Anti-US chants as Iraqis mourn commanders killed a year ago

Thousands of Iraqi mourners chanted "revenge" and "no to America" on Sunday, one year after a US drone strike killed Iran's revered commander Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Pro-Iranian supporters, many dressed in black, massed in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square to also condemn Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi as a "coward" and an "agent of the Americans".

The anniversary of the Baghdad drone strike – which brought Washington and Tehran to the brink of war in early 2020  – was also marked in recent days across Iran and by supporters in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere.

The lead up to the commemorations of the Shia Muslim commanders sharply heightened regional tensions in the weeks before US President Donald Trump, who ordered the killings, leaves the White House.

Iran has held a series of commemorative events for the "martyr" Soleimani, who has been immortalised in portraits, sculptures, ballads and an upcoming TV series. Tehran on Sunday also unveiled his autobiography – focusing largely on his childhood and early adulthood – and a postage stamp in his honour.

In Iraq, the powerful, state-sponsored pro-Iranian Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network which Muhandis commanded has led the angry vigils for him and General Soleimani, who headed the foreign operations arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Sunday's Baghdad rally was a show of force for the armed groups, which despite being formally integrated into the Iraqi security apparatus have increasingly challenged the Kadhemi government.

Thousands of mourners had Saturday night converged at the spot near Baghdad's international airport where the US hit the two vehicles and killed Soleimani, Muhandis and eight other men.

By candlelight, they honoured their "martyrs" and condemned the American "great Satan" at the site where nearby walls are still pockmarked by shrapnel.

"We tell America and the enemies of Islam that they can inflict the greatest sacrifices on us, but we will continue to resist despite the bloodshed," said Hashed supporter Batul Najjar.

The Hashed – factions of which Washington has blamed for rocket strikes against its embassy and troops in Iraq – has increasingly challenged Kadhemi, whom it accuses of having helped plot the drone strikes.

This has brought to the boil once more tensions in the war-battered and politically fragile country which the United States invaded in 2003, and which remains mired in economic crisis amid low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)