Iran-backed terror chiefs taunt Israel, remain defiant ahead of Quds Day
Hamas official says war has not broken Palestinians’ will; Houthi chief vows attacks to continue, while Hezbollah leader insists ‘no room for normalization’
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Leaders from the Iran-backed axis of resistance sworn to the destruction of Israel struck a defiant tone on Wednesday ahead of an annual Tehran-sponsored pro-Palestinian commemoration later this week, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported.
Quds (Jerusalem) Day commemorations, when Iran and its allies organize marches in support of the Palestinians and call for Israel’s annihilation, were launched in 1979 by Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
They are traditionally held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year is expected to finish at the end of March.
Palestinian terror group Hamas’s Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement broadcast on Al-Manar that Israel had been “unable to break the will of our people and our resistance,” despite more than a year “of killing, terrorism, and destruction, and despite the full assistance and support of the United States.”
The ongoing Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, when Hamas-led terrorists massacred some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said his group would continue to support the Palestinian people “without retreat,” Al-Manar reported.
The Houthis have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at Israel, as well as ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden during the war — vessels with no known Israeli connections — saying they are acting out of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said, “We will not accept the continued [Israeli] occupation,” referring to the ongoing presence of Israeli troops in south Lebanon after a recent war.
The Lebanese terror group initiated cross-border fire with the Israeli military in support of Hamas on October 8, 2023.
Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah dramatically spiraled into all-out conflict last September, and the terror group remains a target of Israeli airstrikes as it continues to operate in southern Lebanon in violation of a November 27 ceasefire.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was obligated to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south, while the Lebanese army deploys to control the area.
Israel, in parallel, was obligated to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, though it retains the right to respond to immediate threats.
Following an initial postponement, with US and Lebanese approval, of the deadline to withdraw, Israel pulled all its troops out of Lebanon in February, except five strategic posts along the border.
“The prisoners must be released,” Qassem said, referring to those captured by Israel during the war, adding: “There is no room for normalization or surrender in Lebanon.”
The 2023-2024 conflict severely weakened Hezbollah, which saw a slew of senior commanders killed, including its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah. In agreeing to the November ceasefire, the terror group gave up on its initial promise to only end its attacks once Israel’s operation in Gaza came to an end.
Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutioanry Guard Corps’ expeditionary Quds Force, said that “the Islamic republic has always stood and continues to stand alongside the Palestinian people in defense of the holy Al-Quds [Jerusalem],” in his speech, also aired by Iranian state television.
“God willing, this steadfastness will continue until the final victory of liberation and the reaching to Al-Quds,” he added.
The Times of Israel Community.