The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force head Esmail Ghaani praised Hamas on Thursday.Iran has been watching closely the Hamas tactics against Israel and is proud that the Hamas terrorists it supports are achieving what it claims is a victory against Israel. This includes claims Hamas has targeted more Israeli air bases and that the “Zionist regime” is facing defeat, according to the IRGC.
In a letter to Hamas’s military commander Mohammed Deif, the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force called him a “living martyr” and wrote that he was confident of the victory of the “resistance” in Gaza, according to Fars News. A reputed copy of the letter was also posted online. “O’ you living martyr who has spent his life in the front row of Jihad and is confident of victory; I address you as a brave and devoted commander and I say to all the commanders and Mujahedin of the resistance groups on my behalf and on behalf of the leadership of the Islamic Republic and I promise that you will be victorious and you were faithful to your promise and to the enemy,” the posted version reads.
In the letter he claimed that Israel was tasting “fear, defeat and humiliation.” He also wrote greetings to the people of Gaza and to Arabs living in Israel, as well as Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank. “The Palestinian people have proved to the whole world that they are alive and that over the years they will not be able to forget their rights, as the delusional people thought.” He said that now Iran and its allies are in the midst of a “great operation” called “Saif al-Quds” or “Sword of Jerusalem,” which has begun and entered a new phase of battle against Israel. The letter says that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “has emphasized that the countdown to the destruction of the enemy has begun.”This is in line with statements made in Iran over the past two weeks. It gives evidence of Iran’s direct planning and role in Hamas attacks on Israel. Iran and Turkey have long backed Hamas. Turkish media has encouraged a pan-Islamic alliance of Iran, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan and Malaysia to fight Israel.
Meanwhile Iran says Hamas has struck at Israeli airports, a key part of the Iranian plan apparently. In Iran IRGC commander Hossein Salami who had predicted Israel could be defeated with one large tactical operation gave a speech where he also praised the “strong resistance put” up by the Palestinians in the face of Israel. “More than two-thirds of Zionist cities were attacked by Palestinian rockets from Gaza, leaving no safe haven for them. All of the Israeli regime’s missile defense systems have failed against thousands of Palestinian missiles.” Iran thinks the Hamas “rocket intifada” has weakened Israel. Israel faces a major crisis, Iran says.