‘Vulnerable Zionist regime weaker than ever’: President Raeisi

Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi says the resistance of the Palestinian and Lebanese people against Israel has made the occupying regime “weaker than ever.”

“Palestinian intifadhas changed the conditions and the victory by Lebanon's Hezbollah in the 33-day war caused the Zionist regime to be weaker than ever and resistance fighters stronger than ever,” he said on Wednesday while addressing a host of Syrian people and officials at the holy shrine of Hazrat Zainab (PBUH), the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny), in Damascus.

“The resistance by you and the Palestinian people in the face of the Zionist regime has changed the situation in favor of the Resistance Front,” he said, adding that Israel is “very vulnerable” now. 

“For 12 years, they waged oppression and offered ill-gotten money to Takfiri groups … Twelve years have passed since the crimes of the US, Zionist regime, and Takfiri groups, but Syria is still standing strong,” President Raeisi said, referring to the bloodletting campaign of terrorists, most notable among them Daesh, in Syria and Iraq in the past decade.  

Since the inception of Takfiri terrorist groups, some had not understood the situation, but Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei correctly recognized it as an “American-Zionist” movement, he said.

The Leader, according to President Raeisi, noted at the time that this level of violence cannot be carried out by Muslims and that such crimes had the hallmarks of Zionist operations.

In 2017, Iran’s military advisory assistance – alongside help provided by the Arab country's other allies, including support and aerial operations by Russia – helped Damascus defeat Daesh.

Elsewhere in his remarks, President Raeisi further said that Iranians appreciate the “insight” and resistance of the Syrian government and people in the face of this “sedition.”

“The policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to support the oppressed and hence, it stands beside the oppressed Palestinian nation as well as the resistance in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere in the world,” President Raeisi said.

“Syria resisted for 12 years and emerged victorious,” he said, adding, “Syria will be reconstructed by your hands and all the destruction will be turned into lasting constructions … We will stay by your side in the reconstruction phase just the way we did during the hard days.”

The relations between Iran and Syria, the Iranian president maintained, are “strategic” and no one can undermine this “brotherhood.”

President Raeisi arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday at the head of a high-ranking delegation for an official two-day visit. This is the first visit by an Iranian president since the foreign-backed militancy gripped the Arab country in 2011.

Earlier in the day, President Raeisi met with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad before inking an agreement on a long-term strategic comprehensive cooperation agreement.

ME