Explosions Kill Dozens At Iranian Soleimani Memorial Event
Iranian state media outlets report that at least 103 people were killed and 141 injured after two explosions occurred at a Wednesday memorial ceremony for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani.
The explosions happened near Soleimani’s tomb in a cemetery in the southern city of Kerman. The explosions took place during a procession to the tomb, with state television footage showing crowds screaming after one explosion happened offscreen.
The ceremony was being held to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s death in a 2020 U.S. drone strike just outside of Baghdad International Airport. The government-linked Tasnim news agency claims that the explosions were caused by two remotely detonated bombs hidden in suitcases at the entrance to the cemetery.
At the time of his death, Soleimani had been the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force unconventional warfare branch for over 20 years, and was viewed as the second most powerful person in Iran. His leadership of Quds Force saw it cultivate many proxies throughout the Middle East, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi militants in Yemen, as well as Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Shia militant groups that are part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces.
Under Soleimani’s leadership, the IRGC also fought in Syria on the side of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with Soleimani personally coordinating with Russian leadership to coordinate the 2015 Russian military intervention that saw the Assad regime retake much of Syria.
The explosions happened less than a day after an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Hezbollah-controlled Beirut suburb of Dahieh killed Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas’ political bureau. In addition to being described as one of the architects of the October 7 attack that started the Israel-Hamas war, al-Arouri was one of Hamas’ main links to Hezbollah and the Iranian government.
The explosions also come just over a week after Iran accused Israel of conducting an airstrike on a Damascus suburb that killed an IRGC brigadier general said to have been close to Soleimani. Brigadier General Seyyed Razi Mousavi was described as one of the IRGC’s most senior advisors to the Assad regime in statements carried in Iranian government-linked media following his December 25 death.