TEHRAN - Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution said on Sunday that defending the Palestinian cause in the face of the Zionist regime of Israel symbolizes a defense of Islam. 

“Since from the very beginning, the Islamic Republic of Iran considered supporting Palestine as a duty, it will continue to fulfill its obligation in the future as well,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with Ramadan Abdullah, chief of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
“Defending the Palestinian cause” is enshrined in the very nature of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei noted, according to Press TV.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader said the West, led by the U.S., have launched a war against the Islamic resistance in order to dominate the region.
 “The [ongoing] developments in the region must be studied and analyzed from such a viewpoint, and within this framework, the issues of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Hezbollah are part of this large-scale confrontation,” the Supreme Leader remarked.  
The Islamic Republic continues to back the Syrian government “because those standing against Syria are in fact hostile to Islam in principle and are serving the interests of the U.S. and the Zionist regime,” the Leader added. 
The Leader also said Israel is now more “fearful” of Hezbollah than before.  
Hezbollah’s resistance against Israel’s 33-day war on Lebanon in 2006 shattered the invincibility of the Tel Aviv army. In that invasion Israel lost more than one hundred soldiers.