The gathering coincided with increasing tensions between Iran and the United States in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration, and many in the crowd demanded revenge. Washington had accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces in the region, and his killing took US-Iranian hostilities into uncharted waters and stoked concern about a major conflagration. Demonstrators gathering at Tahrir square waved the Iraqi and PMF flags and chanted anti-American slogans such as “America is the Great Satan”, while carrying the portraits of Soleimani and Muhandis. They had flocked to the central square in response to calls by an array of militia groups known collectively as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which are mostly backed by Iran. The United States blames Iran-backed militias for regular rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq.

Source: bd News24 January 03, 2021 13:52 UTC