During a press conference in Tehran at the end of last month, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Brigadier-General Ramezan Sharif claimed that ‘the Al-Aqsa Storm was one of the retaliations of the Axis of Resistance against the Zionists for the martyrdom of Qasem Soleimani’. It was an extraordinary statement.
Iran had insisted that while it supported the Al-Aqsa Storm (what Hamas calls its 7 October attack), it wasn’t directly involved in its planning or execution. Israeli intelligence believes this to be true. Despite receiving significant Iranian weapons and training, Hamas had not informed Tehran in advance of its plans. So why was Sharif suddenly claiming Hamas acted as part ‘of the Axis of Resistance’ in retaliation for the American assassination in January 2020 of the commander of the IRGC’s expeditionary Quds Force?
Hamas’s angry rebuke to the IRGC credit-taking disclosed a deeper frustration with Tehran
Hamas leaders were incensed. In a rare rebuke to the Iranians, they issued a statement denying ‘the validity of the remarks made by the IRGC spokesman regarding the Al-Aqsa Storm operation and its motives’.
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