Iran: Hezbollah rally to mark Soleimani's killing

Hezbollah on Sunday marked the first anniversary of killing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani with a ceremony at Lebanon's southern border with Israel. In a symbolic event on a hill outside Kfar Kila overlooking the Israeli settlement of Metula, a batch of Hezbollah fighters swore the militant group's oath.

Officials also raised the yellow Hezbollah flag with the faces of Soleimani and top Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was killed in the same attack. Ali Fayyad, a Lebanese lawmaker from the Hezbollah bloc, said recent attempts at the normalisation of ties between Israel and some Arab countries were "based on sands" and would "collapse quickly in front of the wills of our societies".

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was expected to deliver a speech later today. On the Israeli side of the border, military vehicles patrolled the area as the event was taking place. Soleimani and al-Muhandis were killed in the US drone strike at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020.

Soleimani headed the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, responsible for the Islamic Republic's foreign operations and he frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Al-Muhandis was Iraq's most powerful militia leader who was deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Their killing dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the region and brought the US and Iran to the brink of war. That attack later saw Iran retaliate by launching a ballistic missile strike injuring dozens of US troops in Iraq. Tehran also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet that night, killing all 176 people on board.