It’s no secret that Iran is stuck in a war it can’t win in Syria, backing its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, whose best hope is to continue bleeding his own people while millions are escaping the country.
Iran’s other loyal ally in the area, Hezbollah, is being shredded by the rebels, even as the Lebanese Shiite fighters are sharing in local victories for the government army.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that a convoy carrying members of Hezbollah was hit by a roadside bomb near Syria’s border, killing one and wounding two. The Syrian civil war is the kind where the two warring halves of a nation are committed to annihilating each other, and both are equally ruthless about getting it done.
And so, with very little to offer his people in the way of good news from the front, Iranian president-elect Hassan Rohani is attacking the good old Zionist regime, “Little Satan.”
Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s assertions that Israel is still very much considering attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities by itself, and following rumors that the Israeli airforce already operates out of a Turkish base, Rohani, speaking to veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, asked: “Who are the Zionists to threaten us?”
Rohani told the veterans that the reason Israel is not bombing Iran is not because it doesn’t want to, but because it fears Tehran’s retaliation.
On Tuesday, Rohani sent messages to President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, reaffirming Iran’s support for its two allies.
The official IRNA news agency on Tuesday quoted Rohani as saying close Iranian-Syrian ties will be able to confront “enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime.”
Rohani said Syria will “overcome its current crisis.” He also wrote to Hizbollah leader Nasrallah, saying Iran backs the “steadfast nation” of Lebanon and the Palestinians—meaning Hamas.
He highlighted the “endeavors” of the anti-Israeli resistant front, comprised of Iran, Syria and Lebanon.