Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Security authorities ramped up security measures in the ultra-secure Green Zone downtown the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Saturday's eve.
The measures come against the ground of the gathering of dozens of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) supporters after reports about removing the pictures of the late Deputy PMF Commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, from al-Fardous Square in the Iraqi capital.
A security source told Shafaq News Agency that the security alert is solely a precautionary measure, asserting that the authorities did not order or provide coverage to removing of al-Muhandis's pictures.
The Deputy Commander of al-Hashd al-Shaabi was killed in a U.S. drone attack on the Baghdad International Airport on January 8, 2020, along with the Commander of the "Quds force", the offshore unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Qasem Soleimani, and other companions.
The proponents of the PMF and the armed Iran-loyal Shiite paramilitary groups commemorate the anniversary of al-Muhandis and Soleimani's assassination in many of Iraq's central and southern governorates.
