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Iran congratulates Assad on Aleppo offensive; threatens Israel destruction in 25 years
Iran’s leadership has congratulated Syria’s President on the impending capture of Aleppo and highlighted its own role in the offensive, which many in the international community fear involves the large-scale deliberate killing of civilians.
Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan called to congratulate his Syrian counterpart on the “victories of the Syrian army and resistance forces in liberating the city of Aleppo from the hands of takfiri [Sunni apostate] terrorists”.
Yahya Safavi, top foreign policy adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, highlighted Iran’s role in the Aleppo offensive.
He said: “The coalition between Iran, Russia, Syria and Hezbollah led to the liberation of Aleppo and will next liberate Mosul (in Iraq).”
He added: “The new American president should take heed of the powers of Iran.”
The Times and Guardian report that a ceasefire in Aleppo had been brokered by Russia and Turkey, in order to allow for the evacuation of residents. However, it was not implemented after Iranian-backed Iraqi militia demanded the lifting of sieges in rebel-held areas of Idlib Province and deals to release prisoners of Iranian-backed militias.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei also met the leader of the Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group Ramadan Abdullah Shalah in Tehran yesterday. He told Shalah, who is classified by the United States as a “specially designated terrorist,” that if “all Palestinians unite and all contribute to the fight, the Zionist regime will not be in existence in 25 years”.
He added that “the occupied lands will be liberated by the very perseverance in the battle of all Palestinian groups,” according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Khamenei’s prediction, during a meeting with Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the country’s capital Astana.
Netanyahu said: “Iran should understand that Israel is not a rabbit, it is a tiger. If Iran ever hurts Israel it will put itself in danger.”