Mideast, Africa, Latin America Honor ‘General of Hearts’

TEHRAN (Kayhan Intl.) – From Africa to Latin America, people, public figures and organizations have commemorated Iran’s anti-terror commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani on the first anniversary of his assassination in a U.S. drone strike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), led by the illegally imprisoned senior cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, released a statement remembering the late Iranian commander and his fellow Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as the greatest heroes in the fight against Daesh terrorism.
The statement said one year after the assassination fears of reprisal by Iran had "placed U.S. missions in the [African] country on high alert.”
In Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, scores of people, religious scholars, academics and former resistance commanders took part in a ceremony, remembering the Iranian commander as a unique personality and honoring his years of struggle against evil aggressors for Islamic unity.
"Soleimani was a pious person and a committed Muslim who tried hard to fight against invaders throughout the Muslim world,” recalled Salehi, a scholar and Friday prayer leader based in Kabul.
Numerous speakers during the event spoke highly of General Soleimani and referred to him as a strong supporter of Islamic resistance movements in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, as well as a role model for all Muslim combatants.
In Bolivia, the nation’s former president Evo Morales hailed Soleimani’s struggles against imperialism to defend the sovereignty of nations suffering from foreign aggression.
"The fight against imperialism has heroes and martyrs in the world, like General Qassem Soleimani, assassinated a year ago,” he declared in a Twitter post on Sunday.
"The people recognize their struggle for justice and the defense of the sovereignty of nations that suffer external aggression,” Morales further stated, adding, "We join his honoring in #Iran.”
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech late Sunday marking a year since the U.S. assassination, said Iran "doesn’t need help” from its allies and will take revenge "when it decides so.”
Nasrallah said Tehran will not ask any other country or body to conduct a retaliatory strike on its behalf.
"Iran is a strong country and it will decide when and how to react,” Nasrallah said. "It doesn’t need to rely on others.”