Iran’s president says Israel’s defeat in its ground invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip was the second victory for the Palestinian resistance groups that launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the regime.
Ebrahim Raeisi was speaking in an interview with Aljazeera TV on Saturday.
Israeli forces, backed by warplanes, staged a brief ground raid into central Gaza on Friday, after frequent threats by the regime about launching a full ground invasion as part of a fierce aggression on the besieged Palestinian territory.
The regime’s army said its ground forces, accompanied by fighter jets and UAVs, “conducted an additional targeted raid in the central Gaza Strip.”
On Saturday, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas resistance movement, al-Qassam Brigades, said the era of delusions about Israel’s military and intelligence superiority is over, and humiliating defeats await the occupying regime.
Abu Obaida stated that the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus was crumpled by Operation al-Aqsa Strom, and the Palestinian resistance front tasted victory at that time.
During his interview, Iran’s president said, “After [Palestinian resistance groups launched] Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the Zionist regime has not been able to score any real victory and this is a strategic failure [for the Israeli regime].”
He added, “The defeat that the Zionist regime suffered last night in its ground invasion of Gaza was the second victory [for Palestinians] following [the launch of] Operation al-Aqsa Storm.”
Slamming the United States’ unbridled support for Israeli in its bloody war on Gaza, Iran’s president said, “Washington expects us to do nothing while it is offering its extensive support for the Zionist regime and this is not acceptable.”
He added that the United States and some European countries are trying to block the efforts made to establish a ceasefire in Gaza “and this is a crime.”
Raeisi emphasized that Iran, all Arab and Muslim countries, and many other countries in the world are seeking an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“The United States’ calculations in the region have been totally wrong and Washington will not achieve its goal to create a new Middle East,” Iran’s president said.
Raeisi added that the Islamic Republic’s support for Palestine is unwavering, adding, however, that “the resistance in Palestine is independent and makes its own decisions without receiving any orders from Tehran.”
“Despite all US’ support, the Zionist regime will not be able to uproot the resistance in Palestine,” Iran’s president said.
Israel has been engaged in a ferocious war on Gaza since October 7, when Hamas and its fellow Gaza-based resistance movement, the Islamic Jihad, launched their biggest operation against the occupiers in years. The surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm came in response to the regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
The death toll since the start of the Israeli carnage has surpassed 7,700 with upwards of 20,500 Palestinians wounded. A staggering 70 percent of casualties in Gaza are children, women, and the elderly.
