TEHRAN (Iran News) On the occasion of the Sacred Defense Week, a number of veterans from the Sacred Defense and the Resistance and those active in this field met with Ayatollah Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah of Tehran on Wednesday, September 25.

In remarks at the meeting, the Leader said Hezbollah and other resistance forces are so far the winners of the war, one reason of which is Israel’s massacre of women and children in Palestine and Lebanon.

“If the evil Zionist regime had been able to defeat the fighting forces, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or in Lebanon, it would not have needed to show its face to the world in such a dark and ugly way through committing crimes against homes, schools, hospitals, children, and women,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, Press TV reported.

“Since the regime has not been able to win over the resistance force, it is forced to pretend to win by hitting women, children, defenseless people and cars on the road, schools and hospitals. So, it has failed so far,” the Leader said.

“Some of the effective and valuable forces of Hezbollah were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the sort of damage that could bring the group to its knees,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

“The organizational and human strength of Hezbollah is much more than that. Their authority, capabilities and strength are much more than that and cannot be seriously affected by these martyrdoms,” he said.

“Therefore, they have won until today, and by God’s grace, with God’s power, the final victory in this battle will belong to the resistance front and the Hezbollah front,” the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said like Iran’s “sacred defense” against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of the country in the 1980s, the battle in Lebanon and Palestine today is “Jihad in the way of Allah”.

“The definite ruling of Sharia is that it is obligatory for everyone to try and help to return Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslims and to its original owners,” the Leader said.

“A divine movement is taking place here; The people of Palestine and Gaza are fighting in the way of Allah in the true sense of the word,” he noted.

In this war against Lebanon and Palestine, the Leader said, “the infidel and evil enemy has the most equipment and the US is behind him”.

“The Americans say they are not involved and have no information, (but their claim) is untrue. They both have information and are involved and they need the victory of the Zionist regime,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

“For the upcoming elections, the current American government needs to show that it has supported the Zionist regime and had it win the war. Of course, they also need the votes of American Muslims, so they pretend that they are not involved.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Israeli enemy has money, weapons, facilities, and global propaganda apparatus, while on the opposing side, “the believers and the fighters in the way of Allah do not even have a tenth of those facilities”.

“Nevertheless, the one who wins is the side of the fighters in the way of Allah. The Palestinian resistance is victorious. Hezbollah is victorious.”

The Leader also said Iran is vociferously opposed to the US domination system and that the Islamic Republic will never submit to American bullying.

“Today, like at the beginning of the revolution, we are against the domination system. We are against American domination,” he said.