TEHRAN – On the first day of January of this year, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, made a statement that is becoming more apparent only more recently.

In a meeting with members of the family of General Qassem Soleimani, Ayatollah Khamenei averred that the void left by the assassination of the general has been filled by his successor, General Ismail Qaani, the chief commander of the IRGC Quds Force, whose tenure as the new commander of the Force faced doubts from Western observers. 

“Praise God, Mr. Qaani has done well and made good progress. In many instances, he has filled the void [due to the absence of General Soleimani]. Praise God, everything is going well and this is how it should be. This is the direction that needs to be followed. The issue of Resistance in the region is an important matter. The Resistance Movement considers itself to be the wings of Islam and the Islamic government,” Ayatollah Khamenei said at the time, according to khamenei.ir. 

Four and a half months later, it transpired that the Leader’s assurance is firmly anchored in reality, with various Resistance groups coming together to form a united front in the West Asia region. And General Qaani is the one who can take the credit for that.  

The developments of recent weeks showed in no uncertain terms that the Resistance Axis has come to enjoy a unique coordination and unity thanks to efforts by General Qaani. 
This unity was on full display during the recent flare-up over Israel’s aggression against the al-Aqsa Mosque, which triggered missile firing from the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon. Facing a united front, Israel became perplexed and unable to respond while only days earlier, it had been conducting consequent strikes in Syria.

The coordination among Resistance groups appears to have resulted from intensive meetings in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Palestinian groups. The leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian groups held meeting a meeting with the secretary-general of Hezbollah, Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, something that signaled to Israel that any aggression against any part of the Resistance front could trigger a collective response. 

And Israel’s aggression against Syria is becoming an integral part of that equation. In his Friday speech, which was delivered on the occasion of International Quds Day, Nasrallah was keen to warn Israel against violating this emerging equation. 

Addressing the Israelis, the Hezbollah chief said, “Your calculations, your actions, and your stupid steps in al-Quds or the West Bank or Gaza or Lebanon or Syria can lead the region to a big war.” 

He added, “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu says that ‘we will see’, we also tell him in the Lebanese Resistance that we will see. The enemy divides the battlefields into several parts and dedicates the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to its actions and says that the rules of engagement are in place. I tell the enemy that this game is dangerous, be careful because al-Quds is the red line.”

This year’s Quds Day also included displays of Resistance unity. On Friday, as Iranians and Muslims of other countries took part in rallies in solidarity with Palestine, Palestinian youth climbed up the walls of the al-Aqsa Mosque to unfurl a banner reading “The [West] Bank is the shield of al-Quds.” This message appears to be in line with the growing spread of resistance sentiments among the Palestinians of the West Bank.