US will pay price for killing of Soleimani: Hezbollah

BEIRUT

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah announced Sunday that the U.S. army will pay the price for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who is regarded as the second most powerful person in the country.

Nasrallah said U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration would realize they have lost the region when the coffins of American soldiers and officers are sent back home.

The most fair measure taken against America would be against the U.S. military presence in the region, including military bases, warships and every U.S. officer and soldier, he said.

Nasrallah underscored, however, that U.S. civilians in the region or elsewhere cannot be harmed, “which would only serve Trump’s agenda.”

He said he had warned Soleimani of the risk of assassination and had met him in Beirut on Jan. 1.

Nasrallah said that after several assassination attempts, Soleimani was killed in a public attack in light of U.S. elections and regional developments.

He stressed that Trump wants to seize the oil wells in Iraq, adding the U.S. does not want any country to oppose it in the region.

He said Soleimani’s assassination was not an independent event and that the Americans were waging a new war in the region.

He called for an end to the U.S. military presence there after the killing of Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Following Soleimani’s assassination, Iran has not made any requests from its allies in the region, he added.