Al Aqsa Flood Operation in Imam Khamenei's Words

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds; and may peace and greetings be upon our Master and our Prophet, Abul-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad; and upon his untainted, pure, chosen Progeny, particularly the Remnant of God on earth. O God, verily I praise You, seek Your help, ask for Your forgiveness, and put my trust in You. And may peace be upon the Imams of the Muslims, the protectors of the oppressed, and the guides of the believers. God, the Exalted, has stated, “But the faithful, men and women, are comrades of one another. They bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, maintain the prayer, give zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. It is they to whom Allah will soon grant His mercy. Indeed, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise” (Quran 9:71).

I invite and encourage all my dear brothers and sisters, including myself, to observe piety with respect to God. Let us be cautious in our words and actions, making sure we don't overstep the boundaries set by God. This is the meaning of piety.

In the verse that I recited, the important issue of the unity of the believers is raised. In Quranic terminology, this unity and solidarity is referred to as "Wilayah" [Guardianship], the Wilayah between believers. This concept is mentioned in several verses of the Quran. This specific verse describes God's mercy as the result of this Wilayah and solidarity, "It is they to whom Allah will soon grant His mercy." This means that if you Muslims maintain your bonds, relations, cooperation, and empathy with one another, God's mercy will be bestowed upon you.

The Quran then states, “Indeed, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.” The noble verse ends by referring to God's might and wisdom. Perhaps the reason for this is that God's mercy in this context is consistent with His greatness and wisdom. This is because God's mercy includes all kinds of virtues that He imparts to His servants. All the blessings, favors, and everything that takes place in life is a manifestation of God’s mercy. But in this noble verse, this mercy is in accordance with His "might" and "wisdom."

Divine might means the Lord's power prevails over all of existence. Divine wisdom refers to the consistency and stability of all the laws of creation. Perhaps this verse is trying to draw attention to the fact that if Muslims unite and stand together, they will have the support of God's might and wisdom. They will be able to benefit from the Lord's infinite power and make use of God’s traditions and divine laws.

So, what is Wilayah? It is the unity and solidarity between Muslims. This is the policy introduced by the Quran for Muslims. The Quran's policy for Muslims is that Muslim nations and groups should stand in solidarity with each other. It essentially promises that if you, Muslim nations, maintain this solidarity among yourselves, God’s might will support you. In other words, you will overcome all obstacles and triumph over all enemies. You will be supported by divine wisdom. All the laws of creation will work in your favor for your advancement. This is the logic and policy seen in the Quran.

The opposite of this policy is the policy of Islam’s enemies – the world’s aggressors and Arrogant Powers. Their policy is to divide and rule. What they do is based on creating division. They have implemented this policy of creating division in Islamic countries using various tricks. And they haven’t stopped doing this until today. They cause the hearts of Islamic nations to become bitter toward one another. However, nations are awake today. I say that today is the day when the Islamic Ummah is capable of overcoming the tricks of the enemies of Islam and Muslims.

The enemy of the Iranian nation is that same enemy of the Palestinian nation. It is the same enemy of the Lebanese nation. That same government is the enemy of the Iraqi nation. It is the enemy of the Egyptian nation. It is the enemy of the Syrian nation. It is the enemy of the Yemeni nation. The enemy is one and the same. The enemy’s methods vary in different countries. They use psychological warfare in some places and economic pressure in others. In some places, they use two-ton bombs and weapons. But in other places, our enemies pursue their policies with smiles. Nonetheless, the command center is one place. They receive orders from one place. They receive the order to attack Muslim communities and nations. If this policy succeeds in one country, meaning if they manage to dominate one country, they proceed to target the next nation once they are assured of their control over the previous country. Nations mustn’t allow this to happen.

If a nation wants to avoid a crippling siege by the enemy, it must open its eyes from the very outset and be vigilant. When it sees the enemy going toward another nation, it should consider itself to be an ally of that innocent nation that is being oppressed. It should help them and cooperate with them so that the enemy doesn’t succeed there. If the enemy succeeds in that place, it will move on to the next target. We Muslims have been negligent with regard to this reality for many years and have witnessed the repercussions resulting from this. Today, we must no longer be negligent. We need to remain vigilant. We must fortify our defenses and firmly protect our independence and dignity – from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon, in all Islamic countries and nations. This is the first topic I wanted to discuss today.

Today, I will be mostly addressing our Lebanese and Palestinian brothers who are faced with problems. I will address these issues in the next sermon. The second point I wanted to share now with you is that the Islamic rulings on defense have made our duty clear. Both Islam’s laws on defense, our own constitution, and international laws – laws that we didn’t help to draft. But even those laws affirm this undeniable fact that every nation has the right to defend its land, home, country, and interests against aggressors. What this means is that the Palestinian people have the right to stand against an enemy that has seized their land, occupied their homes, destroyed their farms, and ruined their lives. The Palestinian nation has this right [to defend itself]. This is a strong logic that international laws affirm today too.

Who does Palestine belong to? Who are the Palestinian people? Where did these occupiers come from?! The Palestinian nation has the right to stand against them. No court, no institution, and no international organization has the right to object to the Palestinian nation standing firmly against the usurping Zionist regime! They have no right to object! Those who support the Palestinian people are fulfilling their duty. No one based on any international law has the right to object to the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah supporting Gaza and the uprising of the Palestinians. It is their duty, and they should have done this. This is both an Islamic ruling, a rational law, and based on internationally accepted reasoning. The Palestinians are defending their own land. Their defense is legitimate and supporting them is also legitimate. So all these attacks, including Operation Al-Aqsa Flood which took place around this time last year, were internationally legal, logical correct moves. And the Palestinians had this right.

The Lebanese people’s vigorous defense of the Palestinian people falls under this same ruling. It is legal, reasonable, logical, and legitimate. No one has the right to criticize them for helping this defense. The brilliant work of our armed forces a few nights ago was also completely legal and legitimate. What our armed forces did was to inflict the minimum punishment on that usurping Zionist regime in response to its appalling crimes. It’s a bloodthirsty regime, a wolf-like regime, and the US’s rabid dog in the region. The Islamic Republic will carry out any duty it has in this regard with power, firmness, and decisiveness.

In fulfilling this duty, we will neither hesitate nor act hastily. We won’t hesitate, neglect our duty, or act hastily. What is logical, reasonable, and correct according to military and political decision-makers will be carried out at the appropriate time, just as this has been done in the past. And if necessary, this will be done again in the future.

“In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. I swear by Time! Man is indeed in loss, except those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to [follow] the truth, and enjoin one another to patience” (Quran 103:1-3).

May God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.