IRGC Chief: Biden, European Leaders Trying to Provide Artificial Respiration for Dying Israel

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami said that the Western leaders’ visits to Tel Aviv are aimed at giving artificial respiration to dying Israel, adding that this futile endeavours can’t halt the trend of the Zionist regime’s downfall.

Maj. Gen. Salami made the remarks in the city of Msahhad on Thursday as, in recent weeks, President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and several others European leaders touched down in Tel Aviv to show their support for Israel.

“Their defeat in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm was one of the most unforgettable, stunning and unprecedented defeats that crumbled the US, the UK and Israel together,” the IRGC chief stated.

Washington, Salami noted, is seeking to resuscitate the Zionist regime after its humiliating defeat.

“The United States bears responsibility for today’s developments in Palestine as it has been trying for years to portray the occupying regime as an angel of democracy and create a [positive] image for them,” he continued.

The top commander warned the US-backed Israeli regime against conducting acts of aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“If the Israelis fight on the ground, they will be swallowed,” he cautioned.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the top general said that the United States has antagonized the Muslim world, and this enmity is growing day by day.

Stressing the United States is on the decline, Salami stated Washington’s colonial policies are taking their victims in almost all territories of Islamic countries.

“In the Muslim world, the Zionists are like an unwanted foreign object that has been implanted in this region and start new bleedings every time and again,” he added.

Salami was echoing recent remarks by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei who has stated that Western leaders’ visits to Tel Aviv demonstrate the US’ and Europe’s concerns over the downfall of the Israeli regime.

“The presence of the heads of oppressive and villain states in the occupied territories shows their concern about the disintegration of the Zionist regime,” the Supreme Leader said on Wednesday, referring to Western officials’ trips to Tel Aviv to reaffirm their support for the Israeli regime.

Addressing a conference in mid-October, Maj. Gen. Salami praised the Gaza-based resistance groups’ military operation as the preliminary step to the collapse of the Zionist regime.

He stressed that the war on the besieged Gaza Strip was “the first stage in the early crumble of the fake Zionist regime”, describing Hamas-led Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the Israeli regime as an event that exposed the illegal entity to a “political and security earthquake”.

The military official stated that the Zionist regime would not be able to recover from such a humiliating defeat despite its desperate attempts.

“No matter what the Zionists do in the future, the regime cannot recover from such humiliation,” he said, adding, “Israel’s delusion of grandeur collapsed with the operation by Hamas and its powerless reality was revealed to everyone.”

On October 7, Hamas launched a multi-pronged surprise military operation via land, sea and air. The group announced it was in response to the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians. The attacks have so far killed more than 1,400 and injured over 5,000, according to Israeli officials. Hamas also announced it is holding between at least 200 and 250 hostages.

Following the multi-front attack by Hamas, Israel carried out heavy bombardment across the Gaza Strip, killing more than 7,000 Palestinians, including more than 2,900 children and over 1,700 women, and wounding over 18,000 others.

Tel Aviv has ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, saying it would halt its supply of electricity, food, water and fuel. Israel’s military has also ordered 1.1 million people living in Northern Gaza to evacuate their homes, amid signs it is set to ramp up its offensive.

The bombing, as well as enforced displacement orders by the Israeli army, has pushed 1.5 million people out of their homes.

The Gaza Health Ministry has also confirmed that the healthcare system in the besieged territory has “totally collapsed due to the Israeli war”. 

Israel has so far destroyed about 200,000 housing units completely or partially since October 7, accounting for more than 25 percent of populated areas in Gaza, according to Minister of Public Works and Housing Mohammad Ziyara.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, where some 2 million people live in an area of 140 square miles. It has been almost completely cut off from the rest of the world for nearly 17 years. More than half of its population lives in poverty and is food insecure, with nearly 80% of its population relying on humanitarian assistance.

Human rights groups have stressed that depriving an occupied population of basic necessities is a war crime. Palestinian health officials have warned Gaza is rapidly running out of water and electricity, and the population faces severe shortages of food and medicine. They say several hospitals in the besieged territory are under constant bombardment and facing imminent shutdown due to a lack of fuel.

Five UN agencies have also warned that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “catastrophic”, calling for more international help as conditions deteriorate in the densely populated besieged enclave.

“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities,” the UN agencies said in a joint statement on Saturday, adding, “It is now catastrophic. The world must do more.”

“More than 1.6 million people in Gaza are in critical need of humanitarian aid,” added the statement, which was signed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN children’s agency (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP), the UN development agency (UNDP), and the world body’s population fund, UNFPA.

A report published on Wednesday by the United Nations trade body has suggested that Gaza needs billions of dollars in international economic aid to compensate for the years of restrictions that Israel has imposed on it.

In its report on the economic development of the occupied Palestinian territory for 2022, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that the restrictions have stifled Gaza’s economy and curbed its development.

The report also highlighted the dire economic conditions in Gaza prior to the start of the ongoing war.

Tehran says the history of the apartheid regime is full of assassinations, massacre, torture and killing of Palestinian kids, and described Tel Aviv regime’s atrocities and massacre of Palestinian women and children as indicative of the destitute of Zionists. Iranian officials say the Tel Aviv regime has been struggling for more than 70 years to exit its identity crisis which has been mixed with genocide, plunder, forced displacement and scores of other inhumane moves.