WASHINGTON - The death of Iran's powerful military Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike early Friday in Baghdad has prompted mixed media coverage in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Soleimani, commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, was killed along with several other Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leaders in a U.S. drone-launched missile that targeted his convoy in the Iraqi capital.
Mainstream news organizations in Iran shifted most of their focus to the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who vowed a crushing revenge for the death of Soleimani.
State-run TV channels decorated their screens with black-ribbon symbols while covering street marches of mourning people who called Soleimani a "martyr."
Most Iranian news outlets also covered the visit of Khamenei to the family of Soleimani, while a few moderate outlets highlighted a message delivered by the Swiss Embassy, which represents the interests of the United States in Iran, to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The content of the message was not revealed.
News outlets affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) profiled Soleimani's successor, Ismail Qaani, stating that Soleimani's path would continue and the system should survive after his "martyrdom."
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Syrian government-run news outlets described the death of Soleimani as "martyrdom" and solely reported statements made by pro-Iranian regional leaders regarding the U.S. attack. Since the eruption of Syria's civil war, Iran has been a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The official SANA news agency published two letters sent by Assad to Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and Khamenei.
In both letters, Assad said, "This criminal act committed by the U.S. administration reaffirms its approach of supporting terrorism, destabilizing the region and spreading chaos and law of the jungle, in the service of Zionist projects and colonialism in the region and the world as a whole."
In the meantime, several pro-opposition news outlets in Syria expressed content with the death of Soleimani. Syrian opposition groups have long accused Soleimani and the Quds Force of killing Syrian civilians during the civil war.
"Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011, Soleimani began traveling periodically to Damascus, and he was managing the battle himself, according to U.S. intelligence reports," Syrian opposition news channel Orient News wrote Friday.
"According to U.S. officials, Soleimani was running the battle from Damascus to keep Assad in power. He was surrounded by multinational leaders who were running the war, including the leaders of the Assad militia, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, and representatives of the Shiite militias in Iraq, followed by thousands of Shiite fighters, who, together with Russian support, managed to control most Syrian cities and provinces that had been controlled by the opposition for years," Orient News added.
In Iraq, the coverage of the U.S. airstrike on Soleimani's convoy was divided along sectarian lines.
Shortly after the U.S. strike early Friday, Iraqi state TV announced that Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were "martyred" during an attack near Baghdad's airport.
The confirmation was followed later in the day by strong condemnation statements from the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, which accused the U.S. of violating Iraq's sovereignty. Both President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi praised Soleimani and al-Muhandis for their role in the Iraqi fight against the Islamic State. The two leaders urged restraint from all sides, warning that further escalation could drag Iraq deeper into the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
While less formal media outlets close to Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces called for the Iraqi parliament and government to order the removal of U.S. forces in Iraq, pro-Sunni media aired footage of Iraqi civilians allegedly celebrating the death of Soleimani and al-Muhandis. The two Shiite leaders, the Sunni media claimed, were behind the deaths of hundreds of Iraqi protesters killed in recent violent demonstrations.
A more ambiguous tone came from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the north, which has blamed Soleimani in the past for leading an effort to foil a Kurdish referendum on independence in September 2017. Officials at the KRG have yet to express their position.
Media outlets in Saudi Arabia, Iran's main rival in the Middle East, dedicated most of their coverage to the regional implications of Soleimani's death.