“Thirty eight years after (the start of) the imposed war (by Iraq), the link between regional and global developments and the Iranian nation’s sacred defense has become more tangible and objective,” Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said in a speech on Monday.
He emphasized that the sacred defense era has served as a model for Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian, and Yemeni fighters in proxy wars and the fight against Takfiri terrorists.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the commander highlighted the importance of popular forces in Iraq, known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces, saying that if it had not been for them, it is not clear what would have happened in the Arab country.
Iraq and Syria have been facing the growing threat of terrorism in recent years, mainly posed by the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group.
Daesh militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, blunted the edge of Daesh offensive.
In recent months, the Iraqi forces have scored major victories against the terrorist group, liberating many of the occupied areas from the militants.
