US aid played a crucial role in allowing Israel to withstand the October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said during a meeting with Palestinian resistance leaders in Damascus on Sunday.
"The Israeli regime fell after the start of the 'Al-Aqsa Flood' (the Hamas operation in October 2023 - TASS), and if not for the full-fledged US intervention in [the conflict] in support of the Zionist regime and efforts to revive and save it, this collapse [of the regime] would have been fully evident," he stated in the Iranian foreign ministry's Telegram channel.
Abdollahian assessed that Israel and the US had not achieved their stated objectives in the military operation in the Gaza Strip and were now compelled to negotiate with Hamas. He predicted that Israel would persist in the conflict and escalate hostilities if it secured the necessary resources. He also acknowledged that many Western countries recognized during negotiations that war was not the solution and that a political resolution to the Palestinian issue was required.
The foreign minister expressed gratitude to supporters of Palestinian liberation in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria for their robust backing. He attributed the defeat of the Israeli regime to the coordinated efforts of Palestinian factions. Abdollahian's visit to Damascus began on February 11, where he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
The escalation in the Middle East began following the infiltration of Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. In response, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza and launched strikes against the Strip, as well as parts of Lebanon and Syria, and then started a ground operation; as a result killing more than 28,000 Palestinians.
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Based on materials from TASS