Many pilgrims are partaking in the annual Arba'een procession by heading to the holy Iraqi city of Karbala.

Iran PressMiddle East: Carrying the pictures of Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iranian and Iraqi pilgrims are trying to keep the names and memories of the martyrs alive. 

Arba’een marks the 40th day that followed the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam, and his 72-strong companions in the Battle of Karbala, in what is now southern Iraq, in 680 AD. The battle featured an unjust fight between Imam Hussein (AS) and his army and the hugely outnumbered army of the Umayyad Caliph of the time, Yazid I.

Each year, millions of Muslim mourners set out on a symbolic 80-kilometer-long walk that begins from the holy city of Najaf in Iraq, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein’s father,  Imam Ali (AS), is located, to the holy city of Karbala that houses the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS).

On January 3, 2020, the US terrorist government martyred Lt. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Deputy Head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU), and a number of their companions near Baghdad airport.

Following the crime, the Iraqi Parliament, on January 5, approved a plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq.

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Iran mourns for third Shia Imam on occasion of Arbaeen