TEHRAN – A solemn funeral ceremony was held in Tehran on Tuesday for Major General Abbas Nilforooshan, a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was martyred last month in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon.

Nilforooshan, along with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was targeted in an attack that struck residential buildings in Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb on September 27.

Thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran's Imam Hussein Square to honor the general, whose coffin, draped in the Iranian national flag, was carried through the crowd. 

The Israeli airstrike has been widely condemned by Iranian officials, and Nilforooshan’s martyrdom has been hailed as a symbol of resistance against Israeli aggression.

Following the recovery long after assassination, Nilforooshan's body was transported from Beirut to the holy city of Karbala in Iraq, where a large crowd, including representatives of Iraqi political groups, participated in his funeral procession. The prayers in Karbala were led by a representative of Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. 

The slain general was also honored in a procession in Najaf, home to the revered shrine of Imam Ali (AS), the first Shia Imam. After these ceremonies, Nilforooshan’s remains were returned to Tehran for further memorials, with additional ceremonies planned in the Iranian cities of Mashhad and Qom.

Nilforooshan is set to be buried on Thursday in his home city of Isfahan, marking the conclusion of a series of national tributes to the high-ranking military figure. 

General Nilforooshan had been serving as the commander of the IRGC in Lebanon, taking the role after his predecessor Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi was assassinated during an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s embassy in Damascus on April 1. His death was confirmed following the Israeli airstrike that targeted several residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh.