|
TEHRAN, Nov. 21-- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that the victory over the so-called Islamic States (IS) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria is a defeat of the United States in the region, state TV reported. The victory over the IS is tantamount to the defeat of plots to sow division and wage a civil war in the Middle East, and it is a blow to plots by the United States and its allies who had created the terrorist group, Khamenei said. Khamenei's remarks come in response to a senior Iranian military general who announced on Tuesday the final defeat of the IS militants in Iraq and Syria and congratulated Iran's Supreme Leader on the "victory." Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), on Tuesday hailed the "great victory" over the IS. The ultimate victory was achieved thanks to the prudent leadership of Khamenei and the sacrifices of all resistance fighters in Iraq and Syria, Soleimani said. Backed by popular groups and Iranian military advisors, armed forces in Iraq and Syria have managed to flush IS militants out of their last strongholds in both countries, he said, declaring full victory over the "notorious terror group." "The notorious group's rule has come to an end with the accomplishment of a mission to liberate Syria's eastern city of Albu Kamal, near the Iraqi border," he was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. | 
