Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi met with Palestinian terrorist leaders in Damascus on Thursday, calling for a united front against Israel and telling them that the demise of the “Zionist regime” is imminent.
The meeting took place on the second day of a two-day state visit to Syria, the first time that an Iranian president has visited the country after more than a decade of civil war (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Damascus in September 2010).
Terrorists in attendance included Syria-based Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah and senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who is based in the Gaza Strip.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also participated in the meeting.
“The issue of Palestine and the freedom of Quds [Jerusalem] is the most important issue of the World of Islam today, which should not be forgotten,” Raisi said, according to a statement issued by his office.
Raisi said that a Palestinian state is a top priority of the regime in Tehran and claimed that Israel violated agreements with Muslim-majority nations and continues to violate the rights of Palestinians.
“Today more than ever, the unity and cohesion of the resistance forces, the region and the Islamic world is necessary to accelerate the defeat of the Zionist regime and the liberation of the Holy Quds and the sovereignty of the Palestinians over their destiny,” the Iranian leader continued.
“We consider the collapse of the Zionist regime, whose effects are visible, to be very close,” he said.
On Wednesday, Raisi met with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad, praising him for “achieving victory” in the civil war that has killed more than 500,000 Syrians and created the world’s largest refugee crisis by displacing millions.