Leader extols Holy Shrine defenders as saviors of Iran, region
Resistance martyrs honored in int’l confab
Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei praised sacrifices made by fighters of the Resistance Front and those who embraced martyrdom in their relentless fight against Takfiri terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, known as Defenders of the Holy Shrine.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on June 19 in a meeting with organizing members of the international conference of Martyred Defenders of Holy Shrine on the Resistance Front, Press TV reported.
The leader’s remarks were released at the venue of the international congress held on Saturday at the holy shrine of Imam Reza in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
The Leader commended the Holy Shrine Defenders as an extraordinary and important phenomenon and one of the manifestations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s internationalism.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the presence of young people of different nationalities in the form of Holy Shrine Defenders showed that the 1979 Islamic Revolution, after more than four decades, has the power to re-create the very same passion and epic of the time.
“As part of his plot, the enemy intended to destroy the Islamic Establishment by invading the region and concurrently by imposing economic and political as well as ideological and religious pressures on Iran, but a group of young believers, revolving on the Islamic Republic, vanquished this exorbitant project by the global arrogance,” he said.
“With such a view, it should be stated that the Defenders of the Holy Shrine saved Iran and the region.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed to the “violent, merciless and inhumane nature” of Daesh and other terror outfits aligned with it, which were formed through the arms and propaganda support of the United States and the West.
“The goal of this [terrorist] organization was to make the region, especially Iran, insecure, but the Holy Shrine Defenders also neutralized this grave danger,” he noted.
The Leader underlined, “The Holy Shrine Defenders and their families are a source of honor and pride, and salvation and prosperity for Islamic Iran, and the Islamic Revolution is definitely indebted to such martyrs and their families.”
Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by a campaign of militancy and destruction sponsored by the US and its allies. In recent years, however, Syrian government forces have managed to win back control of almost all regions from terrorist groups.
Moreover, the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group began a campaign of terror in Iraq in 2014 and then took control of vast swathes in lightning attacks across the region. Iraq declared victory over the terror outfit in December 2017 after a three-year counter-terrorism military campaign, in which Hashd al-Sha’abi, also known as Popular Mobilization Units, played a major role.
Daesh has already been driven out of all its urban bastions both in Iraq and Syria, but its remnants carry out sporadic terror attacks in both neighboring Arab countries.
Resistance to respond to any aggression
Addressing the conference, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Muslims will determine their own fate from now on, stressing that anti-terror resistance groups will respond proportionally to any act of aggression in West Asia.
Salami gave assurances that Palestinians will continue to vigorously confront the Israeli regime as all forces of the Axis of Resistance have stood firmly.
“The fallen defenders of the holy shrine and fighters of the resistance front are clear manifestations of courage and sacrifice, the standing pillars of martyrdom, epitomes of freedom and dignity, and God’s testimonies upon us,” he said.
Salami said Westerners are well aware of the fact that no power can secure glory and grandeur in the world without the Muslim world.
The Westerners, he said, have been seeking to dominate the whole world by establishing full control over Muslims, emphasizing that Western powers have been wielding influence over a wide array of issues, ranging from economy to culture and social affairs, in the Muslim world for nearly a century, and that the 1947 creation of the Israeli regime is the upshot of such a wicked dominance.
“The Zionist regime acts as a fairly dangerous political, geographical, security and military hub that serves the West’s interests. It safeguards their (Westerners’) interests in this region, and prevents the unity and consolidation of Muslim sovereignty just like a poisoned dagger in the side of the Muslim world,” Salami said.
He noted that the martyrs of the Resistance Front are the progeny of the culture of trust, resistance and perseverance.
“Muslims no longer want to bow to the hegemony of the West. It is much worse than death for us to live under the control of the political system of the Western tyranny,” the IRGC chief commander underscored.
Salami also pointed to the growing international support for Gaza and the pro-Palestinian rallies in the United States and European states, stating that Palestine has conquered the hearts of all peoples in the world.
The Resistance Front is destined for victory, he said, adding, “Palestine goes on, Lebanon shines, Yemen is standing, Afghanistan has humiliated the enemies, and Syria has driven the ill-wishers of Islam away.”
In a message to the congress, the secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement emphasized that the final victory, meaning the liberation of Palestine and the region from the US domination, requires continued efforts.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the oppressed nations in the West Asia region are today provided with the opportunity to receive support from the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who is at the forefront of defending the Islamic Ummah in the face of arrogant powers and
occupiers.