Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, Esmail Qaani speaks in Tehran, Dec. 20, 2022. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect

The head of Iran’s elite military force responsible for overseeing Iranian proxies and terrorist operations abroad praised the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel in new remarks, reaffirming Tehran’s “unwavering support for the resistance front” in a speech marking “Quds Day.”

Iranian Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, who leads the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an internationally designated terrorist organization, on Wednesday commended the Oct. 7 onslaught as “a combination of battlefield and popular resistance,” Iranian state media reported.

During his speech, the Quds Force commander said Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating mass atrocities including rape, “introduced a new phenomenon of unity among resistance fronts,” demonstrating the “strength and solidarity of resistance forces.”

Qaani also reiterated Iran’s “unwavering support for the resistance front,” stressing that it will “continue until the ultimate goal of liberating Al-Quds [the Arabic name for Jerusalem] is achieved.”

On Wednesday, leaders from the so-called “Axis of Resistance” — an Iran-led network of anti-Israel, anti-West militias across the Middle East — delivered pre-recorded speeches in preparation for Quds Day on Friday, broadcast alongside images of three figures killed in the past year: former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, former Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Sponsored by the Iranian regime, the annual Quds Day commemorations event is held in Tehran and several other cities, where Iran and its allies organize marches in support of the Palestinians and call for Israel’s annihilation.

In his remarks, Qaani emphasized that Iran remains committed to supporting the “Palestinian cause” through both direct backing for “resistance forces” and military operations such as “The True Promise” — the regime’s name for its ballistic-missile attack against Israel in October last year.

Iran is the chief international backer of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training. According to media reports based on documents seized by the Israeli military in Gaza last year, Iran had been informed about Hamas’s plan to launch the Oct. 7 attack months in advance.

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya also delivered a speech praising “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the terrorist group’s name for the Oct. 7 massacre, as an “unprecedented phase in the history of Palestine,” saying it “reshaped the fight for Palestinian liberation.”

During his speech, the terrorist group leader asserted that the attack demonstrated their ability to take the initiative and launch attacks, “exposing the Zionist entity’s security and military failures.”

“Despite months of relentless killing, terrorism, and destruction, backed by Washington’s full support, the occupation has failed to break the will of the Palestinian people,” al-Hayya said. “The ongoing struggle has forged a new regional power dynamic, uniting fighters from Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran in a common front against the occupation.”

In another pre-recorded speech, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused the United States of attempting to “dismantle the Palestinian cause” through Israel.

The leader of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, said Israel has “occupied Palestine for over 75 years” but failed to erase the “Palestinian identity.”

“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was carried out to change the equation,” Qassem said. “The light of the Palestinian cause shines as a beacon of truth in the world, not to be extinguished.”

“The Zionist regime is grappling with an existential crisis and cannot secure its presence through occupation,” he continued.

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi also delivered a speech saying that Israel’s “continued aggression, supported by the United States, is aimed at dismantling the Palestinian cause.”

“The Israeli enemy’s actions, mass killings, destruction of infrastructure, starvation, and thirst clearly reveal their attempt to forcibly displace the Palestinian people,” al-Houthi said.

He called on Arab nations to take a “bold, historic stand” to prevent the “displacement of the Palestinians and resist normalization with Israel.”

“If the Israeli enemy succeeds in displacing the Palestinian people, the next target will be Palestine’s neighboring countries and the wider Arab world,” the Iran-backed terrorist group leader said.

“Despite the US attacks, Yemen will not back down and will continue its operations in support of the Palestinian people.”