Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says the West is seeking to distort the facts on the ground in the Gaza Strip and legitimatize Israeli crimes in the besieged coastal enclave.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Friday evening, emphasizing that the resistance front possesses the capability to stand up against the apartheid Israeli regime for a long period of time.
He also scoffed at Washington’s call on Palestinian groups to exercise restraint while, at the same time, supplying the Israeli military with various types of ammunition to be used against ordinary people in the Gaza Strip.
The top Iranian diplomat slammed as war crimes the brutal killing of women, children and elderly people in Gaza, the complete siege and cut-off of the supply of water, electricity and fuel to the territory, and the intense bombardment of houses, public facilities and medical centers there.
Amir-Abdollahian added that some international and Western authorities are in contact with Iranian officials, and the two sides are exchanging views on the latest developments in Palestine.
“The extremist policies of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his provocative measures could be named the main cause of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm. Nonetheless, Westerners call on all parties except for the Zionist regime to exercise restraint! Westerners admit that contrary to their imagination, Operation Al-Aqsa Storm demonstrated that Palestine is still thriving,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
He stressed that Iran and Syria’s support for Palestinian resistance is known to all, but the recent operation by fighters from Hamas and other groups was purely Palestinian in nature.
Amir-Abdollahian also pointed to the critical and miserable situation in Gaza as a result of the ongoing Israeli crimes against its residents, stressing that concerted efforts need to focus on prevention of further Israeli atrocities in the enclave.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has therefore demanded an emergency foreign ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and voiced its readiness to host such an event,” he explained.
For his part, Assad expressed his concern about the extent of Israeli crimes against Gazans, stating that Israeli authorities and their advocates want to reverse the course in light of recent developments or use the Palestinian attacks as an excuse to root out the resistance front.
Such an approach is being directed under the tutelage of the United States and certain Western countries, the Syrian leader said.
He said the reason why Westerners stand by Israel is because of the regime’s acute political, economic and social crises, and their concerns of a looming collapse.
The Syrian president also expressed support for Iran’s proposal for an emergency OIC foreign ministerial meeting, stressing the need for all-out efforts to avoid the perpetration of more horrendous Israeli crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
In Gaza, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes, including 614 children and 370 women. An additional 7,696 have also been wounded, including 2,000 children and 1,400 women.
Israel gave a warning at midnight local time on Friday, telling more than one million Palestinians living north of the enclave that they have 24 hours to evacuate to the south.
