Addressing a ceremony marking the first martyrdom anniversary of Iran’s top anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, in Tehran, al-Nakhala paid tribute to the top general, saying General Soleimani was always present on the battleground.

“Martyr Soleimani was an obstacle to the plots devised by the Great Satan (against nations in the region),” he added.

The Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement further said that Palestine’s military advancement was a priority for General Soleimani.

Lieutenant General Soleimani and his Iraqi comrade Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units, were assassinated along with their companions in a US terror drone strike authorized by Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.

Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill two days later, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.

Both commanders were admired by Muslim nations for eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

The US assassination drew a wave of condemnation from officials and movements throughout the world and triggered huge public protests across the region.

Early on January 8, 2020, the IRGC targeted the US-run Ain al-Assad airbase in Iraq’s western province of Anbar after launching a wave of attacks to retaliate the assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani.