TEHRAN (Iran News) – Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has praised recent achievements of Palestinian resistance groups, underlining Iran’s solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Velayati made the remarks in a phone conversation on Sunday with Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of the Hamas political bureau.
“You are a role model for the Muslim world. We follow your great victories and achievements and what you do is a cause of honor for the resistance,” Velayati remarked.
Iran, according to Haniyeh, is a key support base for the Palestinian people and resistance.
“Our people and resistance are in good shape and we will continue to defend Al-Aqsa,” Haniyeh added.
The phone conversation happened as Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestinians and holy sites in the occupied territories, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Al-Quds, have escalated.
Since the start of Ramadan, Israeli violence has been on the rise in the occupied West Bank, with over two dozen Palestinians dead and many more injured at the hands of the regime’s army.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave Israeli soldiers unrestricted freedom of action earlier this month to continue their harsh operations against Palestinians, signaling an increase in Israeli murder and harassment of Palestinians.
At least 19 Palestinians were hurt in conflicts on Sunday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in the occupied Al-Quds, when Israeli settlers invaded the historic site under the cover of Israeli armed troops.
Israeli police expanded their violence inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday morning, storming the mosque’s courtyards and attacked worshipers. Over 150 Palestinians were injured and 400 others detained in the raid.
Similar acts sparked a battle between the Israeli military and the Gaza-based resistance organizations in May, who rose up in protest to Israeli assault.
Jamal Nazzal, the spokesman for the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fatah), said in a press release on Sunday that Israel has been preparing for the assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque for a long time.
He stated that Israel’s brutality against Palestinians in Al-Quds is likely to destabilize the entire region and beyond, adding that “Israel’s violent actions against our civilians are part of a plan and not a reaction to anything Palestinians were doing in the early morning of last Friday.”
