Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with Palestinian groups in Damascus this week as part of his multiday trip to Syria. He met with “Palestinian resistance commanders” at the presidential palace, Iranian pro-government media reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari were present at the meeting, according to reports.
Images published online of the meeting show a room full of men in attendance, though it was not immediately clear which groups were present. If the images were authentic, more than two dozen middle-aged men were in the room. The Iranian flag was positioned next to Raisi, but not the Syrian flag.
Raisi visits important Shi'ite shrine in Damascus, praises Palestinian "resistance"
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported on Raisi’s meeting in Syria, and pro-Iranian Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based news channel, also reported on the meeting of the “resistance” leaders with the Iranian president. According to that report, Raisi also visited the shrine of Sayyidah Zaynab, an important Shi’ite shrine in Damascus, and said the Palestinian “resistance” was standing against the “Zionist entity” in Palestine.
Recent operations “completely changed the situation,” he said, adding that “the initiative today is in the hands of the mujahideen seeking to liberate Jerusalem and in the hands of the resisting people.”
“The initiative today is in the hands of the mujahideen seeking to liberate Jerusalem and in the hands of the resisting people.”
Ebrahim Raisi
The shrine of Sayyidah Zaynab was an important symbol during the early days of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members and Hezbollah members often frequented the shrine, and its iconography became part of the myth of Iran’s role in Syria.
Iran has long backed Palestinian groups in Syria, particularly Islamic Jihad. In February 2020, airstrikes in Damascus killed two members of the group, Reuters reported. Over Passover, the Liwa al-Quds Palestinian group in Syria fired rockets at Israel.
In the past, Palestinian factions have met with the Iranian president and attended his events in Iran, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.