News - Middle East: The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) honors the memory of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ martyred Political Bureau Chief, Yahya Sinwar, who was assassinated in a direct clash with the Israeli forces on the battlefield in southern Gaza.

In a statement on Friday, Major General Hossein Salami praised Sinwar as “the untiring fighter and elite member of the Palestinian Islamic resistance” as well as “the legend of struggle against the criminal and ruthless Zionist regime.”

The Hamas leader’s martyrdom serves to “further stoke the flames of wrath of anti-Zionist resistance,” Salami added, saying Sinwar’s name now shines along the names of other heroic resistance leaders such as his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas’ founder Ahmad Yassin.

“By God’s grace, this wrath will turn the usurpers of the holy land [of Palestine] into ashes in the not-too-distant future,” the Iranian commander stated.

He hailed Sinwar for turning Hamas into a powerful organization and serving as a “terrible nightmare for the Zionists and making the usurping regime and its supporters tremble [in fear]” upon becoming the movement’s political leader.

Salami also praised the martyred resistance leader for his successful commandership of such resistance operations as the al-Aqsa Storm that was carried out by Gaza’s resistance groups last year, during which they stormed the occupied Palestinian territories, encircled Israeli military bases and illegal settlements, and took 240 Zionists captive.

Such operations led to the disintegration of the Zionist regime’s myth of security and intelligence superiority and afflicted the Zionist society with “catastrophic strategic confusion,” the commander noted.

According to Salami, Sinwar ascended to martyrdom while leading resistance fighters at the heart of the battleground and on the frontlines, not from the recesses of Gaza’s clandestine tunnels, where the Zionist regime used to refer to as his whereabouts.

The resistance’s ranks would grow stronger in power and structure with Sinwar’s martyrdom, he affirmed, saying that the regional Axis of Resistance has now transformed into the “Great Resistance Front” that has trampled on the United States' oppressive and criminal existence in the region.

"The Palestinian resistance, guided by the will of the resistance and led by Hamas’ fighters, continues to shape the battlefield against the wicked Zionist enemy. This serves as a reminder to the enemy that escalating the conflict will only deepen their self-created crisis," the IRGC commander’s statement concluded.

Khalil al-Hayya, the Hamas’ Political Bureau’s deputy chief, confirmed Sinwar’s martyrdom in a statement earlier in the day.

The charismatic leader of the Palestinian resistance movement had escaped many assassination attempts both before and after the al-Aqsa Storm.

The 62-year-old played an instrumental role in coordinating and supervising the landmark operation that jolted the Zionist regime.

Before becoming Hamas’ political leader, Sinwar served as the group’s leader in Gaza for seven consecutive years. He spent 22 years in an Israeli prison before being released as part of a prisoner swap in 2011.

Source: Press TV