Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, stated Wednesday that the Syrian crisis was orchestrated by the U.S. and Israel, with evidence confirming their involvement.

Addressing a gathering in Tehran, he mentioned a neighboring country, likely Turkey, also played a role.

Khamenei rejected claims of a weakening resistance front, asserting that pressure only strengthens it.

He condemned militants’ divisions and predicted Syria’s liberation by its youth, adding that U.S. influence in the region will eventually diminish through resistance efforts.

“There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria was plotted in the command rooms of the United States and Israel. We have evidence for this,” Ayatollah Khamenei told a group of people in Tehran Wednesday.

“One of the neighboring countries of Syria also played a role, but the primary planners are the US and the Zionist regime,” the Leader added, apparently referring to Turkey. Ayatollah Khamenei quashed speculations about the weakening of the resistance front after militants and Takfiri terrorists overran the Syrian capital, assuring that it will become stronger.

“This is what the resistance is, this is what the resistance front is. The more you push, the stronger it becomes; the more you commit crimes, the more motivated it becomes. The more you fight with them, the more widespread it will be, and I tell you, by the Divine Power, the domain of resistance will cover the entire region more than before.”

The Leader also dismissed some analysis that a weakened resistance front would amount to Iran’s weakening. “That ignorant analyst, unaware of the meaning of resistance, imagines that when the resistance becomes weak, Islamic Iran will also become weak, and I say that by God’s will and power and with the permission of God Almighty, Iran is strong and powerful and will only grow more powerful.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the agents of the world arrogance are happy about the events in Syria, thinking that with the fall of the Syrian government, which supported the resistance, the resistance front has become incapacitated. “The resistance front is not a piece of hardware that breaks or collapses or is destroyed. Resistance is a faith; it is a thought; it is a heartfelt and definite decision. Resistance is a school; it is a school of belief. What is the faith of a group of people does not become weak but becomes stronger with pressure.”

The Leader explained how the spread of evil motivates resistance fighters, leading to the expansion of the resistance front. “When they see the heinous crimes of the enemy, those who doubted whether to resist or not, will get out of doubt; they will realize that they have to stand, resist and put their lives on the line against the oppressor.

This is what resistance is.” Ayatollah Khamenei touched on divisions among the militant groups in Syria, saying each group has its own agenda and all seek to stake out their own turf. Ultimately, the Leader said, they will be evicted from Syria by the “zealous Syrian youth, so will the Americans who seek to strengthen their foothold in the country. “Each of these attackers has their own agenda and their goals are different. Some of them are seeking to seize land in the north of Syria or in the south. The US is looking to strengthen its foothold in the region.

“These are their goals, but time will show that, God willing, none of them will achieve these goals. The occupied areas of Syria will be liberated by the zealous Syrian youth. Do not doubt that this will happen,” he said.

“America’s foothold will not be strong either. By God’s grace and power, the US will also be expelled from the region by the resistance front,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has conferred the Order of Fat’h (Conquest) on Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Division.

According to Iranian media, the order is granted to warriors with dramatic victories. The awarding on Sunday came after Iran’s launch of 180 ballistic missiles at Israeli military and intelligence bases in the Tel Aviv area on Tuesday.

“The awarding of the order is in recognition of the brilliant Operation True Promise,” Iran’s news agencies reported.

The medal consists of the likeness of three palm leaves on top of the grand mosque of Khorramshahr in southwest Iran as a symbol of resistance, the flag of Iran and the word fat’h.

Operation True Promise refers to Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel on April 13 and October 1.

In April, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel, in an unprecedented attack that came as a response to the occupying regime’s raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria.

On Tuesday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps launched 180 ballistic missiles at two Israeli airbases housing F-35 and F-15 warplanes as well as the Mossad headquarters in retaliation for the regime’s assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and a top IRGC commander.