Press TV has just published a short article saying that the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has granted an audience to Hamas’ political leader Khaled Meshaal. The AFP provides some more details about the meeting and its context:
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday told the visiting political supremo of Hamas to keep up the resistance against Israel, warning that abandoning the struggle would lead to disgrace.
The meeting between Khamanei and Khaled Meshaal came a week after Syria and Israel announced they had resumed indirect peace negotiations through Turkish mediators, after an eight-year freeze.
“It is evident today that the Zionist regime is at its lowest ebb and is unable to resist the patient Palestinian people,” Khamenei was quoted by state radio as telling the Syria-based Meshaal.
“Thank God the Palestinian people have stood like a mountain despite the disaster. The only way to the liberation of Palestine is to resist faithfully.
“The ones who choose a path that is not one of resistance will pay a price and be disgraced in the eyes of God,” he added.
All this is clearly hinting at the context of the Israeli-Syrian negotiations which, sooner rather than later, will result in Syria openly fall under Washington’s sphere of influence. Clearly Tehran and Hamas are preparing for the Syrian betrayal.
VS,
An interesting post. The possibility (perhaps even the probability) of Syria following the path of Sadat of normalizing with Israel increases by the day. The Israelis are not making a secret of their intent of separating Syria from Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas. Again, divide and conquer, even though Syria has not been much of a military asset. Nonetheless, because of Syria’s strategic location, that could cause a problem for Hizbullah.
I think that the attack on the facility at Deir El-Zur was intended to deliver a clear message to Syria that it is vulnerable and that it should abandon Iran. I understand that an Israeli scouting team entered Syria from Iraq (of course with the full backing of US troops) to provide on-the-ground targeting information for the Israeli bombers. Anyway, it is clear that Syria has got the message and the regime is simply trying to survive.
Abdul-Bari Atwan has suggested that Syria has adopted the Libyan model, where the regime capitulated totally in return for avoiding the fate of Saddam. The Libyan official who conducted the normalization talks with the US (including the payment of $3 billion in damages) has been advising the Assad regime for about two years in how to follow a similar deal. One sword hanging over the Assad regime is the Hariri tribunal (similar to the Lockerbie court case).
Therefore, it is prudent for Khalid Mesha’al to be looking for new housing accommodations in Tehran; he will need them soon.
Therefore, it is prudent for Khalid Mesha’al to be looking for new housing accommodations in Tehran; he will need them soon.
Indeed. Frankly, I personally welcome the realignment of Hamas with Tehran and, for that matter, the realignment of Tehran with the Sadrists. Think about it: do Iran+Sadrists+Hamas+Hezbollah not present a far more formidable adversary to the Zionists then when they had people like Maliki or Assad around?
There is, I think, a general “re-direction” of sorts taking place in the Middle-East and all I see so far is only for the good of the region.
Lastly, I have high hopes that the people around Khamenei (the real power in Iran) will provide Hamas with an invaluable tutoring in strategic thinking which will make Hamas “graduate” to the major leagues, so to speak. The fact that Meshaal met with Khamenei, and not Ahmadinejad, I think is indicative that this is serious business, not just empty statements about “solidarity with Palestine”.
Lastly, everybody in the region is preparing for the upcoming war and Hamas, like everybody else, has to “hunker down” and prepare for the proverbial shit to hit the fan.
Tony – kudos for your excellent blog which I visit daily!
Cheers,
The Saker
“I understand that an Israeli scouting team entered Syria from Iraq (of course with the full backing of US troops) to provide on-the-ground targeting information for the Israeli bombers.”
To be honest, I’d say this is highly unlikely. It seems very odd to think that an Israeli team could pass through highly sensitive military facilities in Syria while remaining undetected. I think this is more bluster from the Israelis, dutifully reported in the Murdoch press (where I read that Israelis actually penetrated Syria’s ‘nuclear facilities’ and even manged to bag some ‘evidence’!)
“One sword hanging over the Assad regime is the Hariri tribunal (similar to the Lockerbie court case).”
Well, apart from the fact that many believe that SYRIA is more likely to have been responsible for Lockerbie than Lybia!
I doubt the Syrians are all that worried about the Hariri tribunal – despite being highly motivated to implicate Syria, the “UN” team have thus far been unable to do so. Also, with a more friendly government now in Lebanon, the heat is off Syria in this particular regard. In a more general sense, I see no strong evidence that the Syria-Israel ‘peace process’ is anything more than a diversion for the embattled Olmert.I’m not ruling out a possible capitulation on Syria’s part, but I do think it’s some way off – if it happens at all, which in my view seems unlikely.