Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei linked the elimination of ISIL terrorist group in Iraq and Syria to the effective role of young and resolved popular forces, saying such responsible presence has brought the enemies to their knees.
“The enemies tried to use this Takfiri and inhuman group (ISIL) to cause trouble for the resistance current, but the pious youth took action in a motivated manner and brought the enemy to its knees,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a gathering of Iranian Basij (voluntary) forces, held in Tehran on Wednesday.
The Leader also hailed the high morale of popular forces as the main factor in the elimination of “the cancerous tumor of ISIL”.
Describing the influential role of young Iranian forces in the region as a “miracle” of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “You young folks have been able to bring the arrogant America to its knees and defeat it.”
The Leader went on to say that the successive defeats the enemies have suffered in the region confirm Iran’s power and capabilities.
Several plots hatched by the US, Zionism and the reactionary states in the region have been thwarted thanks to Iran’s might, the Leader added, referring to the destruction of ISIL’s self-proclaimed caliphate as one example.
On November 19, ISIL terrorist group was flushed out of its last stronghold in Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.
ISIL militants made swift advances in northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large areas of Syria.
But the timely support by Iran helped Syria and Iraq fight off ISIL. In addition, formation of military units by volunteers in Iraq, known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Units, blunted the edge of ISIL offensive and later made the terror group withdraw from the territories it had occupied.
Source: Tasnim News Agency
