Funeral held in Iraq for Iranian general killed by Israel with Nasrallah

Karbala, Iraq — A funeral procession took place Monday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala in central Iraq for General Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in Lebanon along with the leader of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, during an Israeli strike on Beirut in late September, an AFP photographer noted.

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, announced Friday that the body of General Nilforushan had been found, "after continuous efforts," at the site of the strike that targeted a Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27.

His body was flown Monday from Beirut to Baghdad International Airport and then by ambulance to Karbala.

The funeral procession headed to the Husseiniya shrine, where a representative of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, led prayers in front of a large crowd.

Participants waved flags of Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah, while chanting "death to Israel."

The body will be transported to the holy city of Mashhad in Iran, according to the Sepah news agency, which is affiliated with the Guardians.

Another ceremony will be held in Tehran on Tuesday, before a burial scheduled for Thursday in Isfahan, his hometown in central Iran, the agency said.

Abbas Nilforushan was a top commander of the Quds Force, the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards.

The Revolutionary Guards had said that Iran's Oct. 1 strike of nearly 200 missiles on Israel was a retaliatory measure following the assassination of Nilforushan, Nasrallah and the leader of the Palestinian Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed on July 31 in Tehran in an attack attributed to Israel.

Israel has vowed to retaliate.