Iran Stands Strong
By Ehsan Azimirad
Iranian lawmaker
One of the legacies of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the designation of the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as International Quds Day, highlighting the Palestinian cause as the foremost concern of the Islamic world. This laid the groundwork for the onset of Islamic awakening, which breathed new life into the Resistance Front against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran reinforced the Resistance Front in Palestine, which subsequently expanded to encompass Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Concurrently, the Israeli regime, with American backing, ramped up extensive assaults on the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and southern Lebanon, which were seen as the frontline strongholds in the struggle for justice against the Israeli occupation.
During the 2016 US presidential election campaign, then-president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton were accused by Donald Trump of having a hand in the creation of ISIS, as the world witnessed the expansion of this terrorist group’s activities in Syria and then Iraq.
Amid these developments, the Islamic Republic felt a moral obligation to defend Islamic territories and the oppressed. Under the directive of Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Quds Force, commanded by General Qassem Soleimani, was tasked with stepping in to liberate the frontline of the Syrian resistance from the clutches of extremists. From the outset, General Soleimani convinced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hold on to power and then began to reclaim areas occupied by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, ultimately declaring the defeat of ISIS in late 2017.
Following this, Syria entered a phase of relative peace and security. However, the Syrian government failed to win the approval of its people, who were dissatisfied with the country’s economic conditions.
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