Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in the Middle East, is a "mighty power" with an arsenal of over 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel, Revolutionary Guard Corps Deputy Commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said in a recent speech.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, Salami used recent Qods [Jerusalem] Day events in Iran to explain the rationale for destroying the State of Israel in Islamic revolutionary thought, saying, "We are creating might in Lebanon – because we want to fight the enemy from there with all our strength."
Hezbollah is a powerful player in Lebanese politics. The Shiite terrorist group is also doing Iran's bidding in Syria, where its forces are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's army in the waning civil war.
Salami also named "the Islamic army in Syria" as an instrument Iran plans to use against Israel on the Golan Heights, where Syria and Israel share a border.
He further claimed that Iran has armed the Palestinians with missiles, saying that all of Iran's regional allies were "awaiting orders to eradicate the evil regime."
"Seventy years have passed since the policy of England and America planted in the Islamic world an accursed and criminal tree [Israel]. For 70 years, this poisoned dagger has been embedded in the body of the Islamic nation, and all the problems of the Islamic world stem from the existence of the false, counterfeit, historically rootless, and identity-less regime named Israel," Salami asserted.
"Israel has caused the Palestinian nation to be stripped of a homeland and to roam here and there, subject to serious aggression. … This historic and ongoing crime is being carried out before the eyes of the world. This is the most obvious sign of the crimes of America, Israel, and England in human history.
"In addition to the threat to Palestine's existence, the Zionist regime constitutes a threat as well to the entire Islamic world. That is the philosophy of the establishment of this regime," he explained.
"America, thousands of miles away, and behind oceans, transferred its geographical, political, and security territory to an Islamic land, in order to create a secure political and military bridge and also to create an ammunition storehouse [for it]. [Israel] brings the range of America's missiles against the Islamic world 12,000 kilometers [7,500 miles] closer, and becomes a tool for imposing America's policy against the Islamic world," he was quoted by Memri as saying.
"In 1948, 1956, 1973, and 1982, America supported this regime against the Arabs, who did not manage to triumph, and despair prevailed in the Arab world, until the light of pride appeared in the world and the imam [Ruhollah Khomeini] transformed the heart of Iran with the great [Islamic] Revolution, [and set] a new power against the evil of the arrogance [U.S.], against the supporters of the Zionist regime, and against this regime itself.
"The imam [Khomeini] spread the rationale of eradicating Israel as a new notion in the world's political discourse. Thus, Palestine renewed its soul and came alive," Salami declared.
"Since then, the Zionist regime is fearful, delusional, and worried. After [Khomeini], Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei united the Islamic world, supported the jihad groups, and thus launched fear upon the occupied lands. Since then, the Zionists have not succeeded in triumphing over the Muslims in any war."
Iran, he said, has "not allowed the Zionist regime to spread politically in the Islamic world, and stood against the dangers of this regime. Thus, America suffered a great defeat in its Middle East scheme. The Islamic Revolution created a mighty power called Hezbollah, which today, as the Zionist regime itself acknowledges, has over 100,000 missiles ready for launch. Hezbollah has tremendous might on the ground that can on its own break the Zionist regime."
Iran "invites the Muslims to jihad. … Young Muslims who care are proud of fighting the Zionists, the Americans, and their allies, and becoming a martyr is an honor for them. This is our main might.
"The more time passes, the weaker this [Zionist] regime and its allies become [and] the enemies of the Zionist regime became stronger. Against them, the Zionists are paralyzed," he proclaimed.
"I say to the Zionists that the Americans' coming to your rescue is like an ambulance coming after the patient has already died. You must submit to [your] sealed fate."
The Islamic republic, he said, has "a duty to defend the Palestine movement that is now fighting [Israel]. We must squeeze the throats of the enemies from afar. We must give them no chance to come near us, or to focus on us. We are monitoring them from afar, and grabbing them by the throat in other places.
"We and the Islamic world are all in the same boat, and our security is interconnected. We are defending Syria because this is in defense of the oppressed as well as defense of Iran. We are creating might in Lebanon because we want to fight our enemy from there with all our strength.
"The enemy is spread throughout the Islamic world, and the uniform of jihad is an honor for Muslims," Salami said.
