ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Supporters of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) on Saturday gathered in Baghdad to condemn Israel’s assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and tried to enter the Green Zone where government buildings and diplomatic missions are located.
“This is not a protest, this is an attack on the American embassy in the Green Zone,” one of the protesters told Rudaw’s Ziad Ismail.
Security forces blocked the 14th of July Bridge that leads to the Green Zone to prevent protesters from entering the area. The forces later used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
“God willing, if the situation requires we will go to Beirut… to fight Israel and America, which is the greatest devil on the face of earth,” the protester added.
Footage shared on social media showed angry protesters vowing to burn down the United States embassy.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than 30 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a residential neighborhood of Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah confirmed his death on Saturday.
The Iraqi government condemned the killing and urged the international community to end the expanding conflict.
“The criminal act that targeted the southern suburbs [of Beirut] yesterday expresses a reckless desire to expand the conflict at the expense of the peoples of the region, their security, and their stability,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said in a statement.
“We reiterate our warnings and emphasize the responsibility of international organizations, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and all key regional powers to take decisive action to halt the aggression,” the statement continued.
Sudani declared a three-day period of national mourning.
Iraq's highest Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani paid tribute to Nasrallah.
"Martyr Nasrallah played a remarkable role in the victory over the Israeli occupation by liberating Lebanese territories and supported the Iraqis with everything at his disposal in liberating their country from the ISIS [Islamic State] terrorists," read a statement from his office.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that Nasrallah’s death was a “measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.”
In his statement, Biden reiterated his support for Israel’s “right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”
Eleven people were killed and more than 100 others were injured in the Israeli strikes, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a news conference on Saturday afternoon. Israel carried out additional airstrikes on southern Beirut overnight, causing people to flee their homes in the middle of the night.
