Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the defeat of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group in Syria was a display of the Islamic Republic's unchallengeable power in the face of its western and regional adversaries.
"Several regional plots schemed by the US, Zionist [regime of Israel] and reactionaries in the region were defused one after another, thanks to the Islamic Republic's power. One such occasion was the destruction of Daesh [an Arabic acronym for IS]" Ayatollah Khamenei's official website quoted him as saying. He was speaking in a meeting with Basij voluntary forces in Tehran on Wednesday.
He underlined the high "Basiji morale" among the resistance forces as key to the victory over IS, saying, "Enemies tried to raise this inhumane takfiri group as a challenge against the resistance current, but devout, enthusiastic and motivated youths entered the field of battle and brought the enemy to its knees."
The Leader had been formally informed of the IS defeat by a message a day earlier from Major General Qasem Soleimani, a top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in charge of overseas operations who personally led the offensive to dislodge IS militants from Abu Kamal, their last stronghold in the war-torn Syria.
"As a soldier commissioned by your Excellency in this battlefield, I declare the end of the dominion of this accursed and malignant tree with the conclusion of liberation operations in Abu Kamal, Daesh's last stronghold, and by pulling down the flag of this US-Zionist group and raising the Syrian flag," Soleimani said in his message.
Great Service
In response to Soleimani's letter, Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated him on the victory, saying, "By disintegrating the cancerous and deadly tumor of Daesh, you provided a great service not only to the regional states and the world of Islam, but also to all nations and humanity."
He described the IS fall as a blow to the Islamic Republic's foes, who helped the rise of the evil terrorist group, which took control of large swaths of Syria and Iraq in a lightening attack in 2014.
"It was a blow to the current and former US governments and their vassal regimes in this region, which founded this group and provided all kinds of support to it, so that they could extend their malevolent dominance over the West Asia region and give the occupying Zionist regime dominion over it."
President Hassan Rouhani hailed the liberation of Abu Kamal as "good news" not only for Iranians but also for other regional nations.
"The people and armies of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon bore the real burden [of wiping out the group], and we assisted them based on our religious and Islamic duty," he said.
"Thanks to God and the endeavors of nations in the region, we can now say that this evil has been lifted from the minds of the people or has been diminished. Of course, its remnants will continue, but their basis and foundation have been destroyed," he concluded.
