TEHRAN – General Hossein Salami, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution, has lauded the recent attack by Palestinian fighters against Israeli military sites, describing it as the biggest defeat since 1948.

Speaking at a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran, General Salami said, “The biggest defeat of the Zionist regime since 1948 and the biggest victory for the Palestinian movement took place during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.”

He added, “This operation is the result of the accumulation and collection of the rage of a nation that has been displaced from its land by usurpers,” according to Tasnim. 

The general said the Israeli regime’s defeat is considered to be heavy because the Palestinians could deal a devastating blow to the Zionist regime’s army and intelligence services without the assistance of any power.

The myth of the Zionist regime’s invincibility has been deflated, General Salami noted.

He stated that the Israeli regime has suffered such a defeat in the world’s greatest intelligence war that it cannot be compensated.

On Saturday, a group of Palestinian resistance fighters broke the fences Israel set up around the Gaza Strip and ran into military sites belonging to the Israeli occupation forces, killing dozens of servicemen and captivating many others. 

Israel has described the operation as an act of terrorism and began a campaign of bombardment against the besieged Gaza Strip. Nearly two thousand Palestinian civilians, most of them women and children, have been killed as a result of Israeli shelling. 

Muslim leaders have launched extensive diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and stop Israel’s dreadful carnage in the Gaza Strip. 

On Wednesday evening, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spoke over the phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to discuss the situation in Palestine. 

Referring to the common beliefs and interests of the two countries, especially in issues related to the Islamic Ummah, President Raisi stressed in this call the importance of using the potential of the World of Islam to stop the Zionist Regime's war crimes, adding, “Iran and Saudi should support the oppressed Muslim nation of Palestine as two key players at the current critical juncture”.

Raisi emphasized the duty of the Islamic Ummah to defend the oppressed people of Palestine and stated, “The root cause of the recent tensions should be found in the continuous oppression and systematic discrimination of the Zionist apartheid system against the oppressed people of Palestine, which of course failed to undermine the determination of these people to defend their rights, and today we are witnessing strikes by the Resistance to the usurping Zionist Regime”.