Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has praised late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani for the role he played in anti-terrorism fight in the Arab country, saying Iraq would have failed to defeat Daesh terrorists if it was not for Soleimani’s assistance.

Maliki made the remarks on Saturday during a ceremony held in the Iranian embassy in Baghdad to remember Gen. Soleimani, a top military commander who was assassinated in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020 when he was leaving Baghdad's airport along with Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and other comrades.

“We could not have fought Daesh if it was not for efforts by Martyr Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and the Iraqi nation,” said Maliki in the ceremony.

Senior Iraqi government officials and politicians attended the memorial service where clerics and notable figures from Iraqi areas liberated from Daesh occupation were also present, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

Falih Al-Fayyadh, who leads Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a powerful paramilitary group operating within the ranks of the Iraqi army, said in the service that Iran played a major role in Iraq’s fight against Daesh.

However, Fayyadh rejected suggestions that Iran has gained a military foothold in Iraq because of the generous support it has offered to the country in recent years.  

 “Some are trying to pretend that that the PMF depends on Iran but this is gibberish talk of the enemy and the weak people,” he said.

Daesh controlled swaths of land in Iraq until 2013 when it was expelled from the Arab country by the Iraqi army and popular mobilization fighters.