Iraqi citizens dance in the street 'for freedom' after US - airstrike kills Iranian terrorist leader Soleimani Posted: Jan 3rd, 2020 - 10:42 am
'This is a divine victory'
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted a video from his official account showing Iraqi citizens dancing and celebrating in the streets after a U.S. rocket strike took out top Iranian military commander and terrorist leader, Qassem Soleimani.
In the tweet, Pompeo wrote, "Iraqis — Iraqis — dancing in the street for freedom; thankful that General Soleimani is no more."
Iraqis — Iraqis — dancing in the street for freedom; thankful that General Soleimani is no more.
"Iraqis who have demonstrated for months against a government they see as beholden to Iran broke into song and dance Friday after a U.S. strike killed a top Iranian commander," the AFP reported.
"Oh, Qasem Soleimani, this is a divine victory," the crowds cheered in Baghdad's iconic Tahrir Square.
"This is God's revenge for the blood of those killed," one person added, according to the AFP, referring the hundreds killed during the demonstrations.
Syrian-American journalist Hassan Hassan tweeted another video allegedly showing Iraqis celebrating in the streets following the news.
In this video, hundreds of people are shown dancing around a banner that displays Soleimani's face with a large red "X" over it.
Proof that doomsday alarmism by pundits & anti-Trump politicians isn’t warranted. Those are Iran’s best allies, more than its Iraqi allies. They embolden Iran & ironically make escalation likely.
For now Iraqis are celebrating still, or staying out of it:
Soleimani was the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, which is designated by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and was closely linked to Iran's foreign proxy groups.
The Daily Wire reported that several analysts are calling Soleimani's death more significant than the deaths of Osama bid Laden and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
Soleimani, who was responsible for orchestrating 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, was called "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East" by a former CIA officer in a 2013 profile by the New Yorker.
Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the strike, Reuters reported.
In a news release, the Pentagon said that Soleimani was "actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region" and that the U.S. military took the decisive action to deter future Iranian attacks.
In response to the news, President Donald Trump, who gave the order for the strike, simply tweeted an American flag with no caption.
LINK/URL: Iraqi citizens dance in the street 'for freedom' after US
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