World Qods Day, Muslims' outrage at policies of discord
Addressing a large fervent congregation of worshipers in the second sermon of Tehran's this week Friday prayers at Tehran University Campus here on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei elaborated on the plots and policies of the United States and international Zionism for transferring the realities of the region and for fomenting unrest and sowing seeds of discord among the Islamic nations of the region in such countries as Palestine and Iraq.
He said that the World Qods Day is the day of the Muslim nations' resistance and declaration of their opposition to the oppressions and injustices of the Zionists and their supporters and allies, reassuring that all the Muslims worldwide will commemorate the day.
The leader further pointed to the recent developments of the region, including 33 days of resistance by the Lebanese against the Israeli Army and described it as a unique historical phenomenon.
The Leader said the developments in Lebanon were not something ordinary.
"The 33-day war in Lebanon was a historic phenomenon. It has had no precedence in the entire region. The enemies of Muslim nations, too, did not expect such a thing... Today Hezbollah and the leader of Hezbollah are among the most favored names among nations in the world of Islam," he noted.
Hezbollah members are among the most popular people and this indicates that the world of Islam considers itself victorious in this war, Ayatollah Khamenei said.
He also viewed the pleasure and happiness that the Islamic ummah showed after the triumph of the Lebanese resistance as an indication of the very fact that all the world Islamic nations feel that they are shareholders of this historic victory.
"No one doubts that the victory of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon struck a heavy blow not only at the forged regime of Israel, but also at the U.S. and all their regional affiliates and allies," the grand Ayatollah continued.
He defined the victory of the Lebanese nation as a great lesson for all Muslim nations to believe that resistance against enemies is the only way to victory and that the enemies should fear from the aftermaths of resistance. Reiterating that resistance is the only path to victory, he mentioned, "There is no other way, even if the resisting group is a small group, even if the group they stand against is a first grade army and is supported by the U.S."
He underlined that if a nation who intends to stand up (against tyrannies) is not scared of and disturbed by absence of comfort and pleasures of life, its resistance would bring about victory.
"The case is not over yet. They are trying to cope with the scopes of this defeat because the blow dealt on them was heavy," said Ayatollah Khamenei. The Supreme Leader also stressed that the recent war on Lebanon changed the situation in the region, adding that the effects and aftermaths of this profound change will appear in the long term, "Yet no one may have any doubt about the great change that has taken place in the region." Referring to the plots and conspiracies the Americans and Zionists have hatched in a bid to compensate for the heavy losses and failures they have had to sustain in their invasion of Lebanon, he said that the West has made its optimum efforts in the last 50 years to establish and safeguard the forged regime of the Zionists in the region through relying on a very well equipped army, "but the same army was defeated in a war against a group of civilians with a very limited number of possibilities and equipment."
"And that's why the Lebanese triumph has inflicted a very heavy blow on the Israelis and their allies, and that's why the Zionists and Americans are striving to make up for their humiliating failure through practicing different hostile plans in the regional countries," the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution added.
"We should be vigilant against what is being masterminded against Muslim governments and nations," said Ayatollah Khamenei. They intend to weaken the Hezbollah in Lebanon. "From political point of view, they intend to weaken the Hezbollah to prevent it from getting stronger."
Another scheme, the Ayatollah said, is about the UN troops who have converged there from different countries and are assigned to support the Lebanese people in the face of foreign aggression.
There is concern that the mission of these forces would be changed and they would be forced to stand against the Hezbollah which is the powerful and living force of Lebanon.
He also said that unity is the pressing need of regional nations, and cautioned regional states against re-emergence of the age-old sectarian and religious differences.
Ayatollah Khamenei blamed Britons, Americans particular, for pitting Shiites and Sunnis against each other.
"Britons are so skilled in the job (dividing Shiites and Sunnis) and they have taught Americans how to divide Shiites and Sunnis. Today, regional states are in dire need of unity."