Iran's Ahmadinejad and Syria's Assad tout Hezbollah victory

Iran's president Ahmadinejad and Syrian president Basher Assad both made speeches today trumpeting Hezbollah's victory.

"Allah's promises have come true," Ahmadinejad told a huge crowd in Arbadil in northwestern Iran. "On one side, it's corrupt powers of the criminal U.S. and Britain and the Zionists .... with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on Allah."

Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah foiled plans for nations seeking "to create the so-called new Middle East ... a Middle East that would be under the domination the U.S., Britain and Zionists."

"The people of the region are also after the new Middle East but a Middle East that is free from U.S. and British domination," he told the crowd, which including many people waving Hezbollah banners and Iranian flags.

"They imagined that they can destroy the unity and resistance of the Lebanese people and stabilize their power but failed," he said.

He said the Hezbollah resistance also destroyed the image of Israel as an unbeatable military power.

"(Israel) was defeated ... and (Hezbollah) hoisted the banner of victory," he said.

Ahmadinejad struck a tone similar to an earlier address in Damascus by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who said Washington's plans for the region have become "an illusion".



















When they're right, they're right.

This is a huge victory, especially for Iran. Essentially, the UN has for the first time legitimized unprovoked aggression against a member state, while at the same time endorsing Hezbollah's status as both `victor' and `victim'.

This will have repercussions far beyond Israel. Keep in mind that the same arms used against Israel in Lebanon are also supplied to the Shiite militias like the Badr Force and al Sadr's Mahdi army in Iraq - and from the same source. More moderate Shia voices in Iraq like Ayatollah Sistani and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki have lost considerable clout and will either be forced into line with Iran or forced out.

It has enhanced Iran's status as a leader in jihad and in the Arab world.

While Iran did pay a price for this victory. Hezbollah’s war wiped out most of the estimated $4-6 billion Iran had invested in Hezbollah's military strength and weaponry and damaged severely what was meant to be a major deterrent to Israel embarking on a military operation to destroy the Islamic regime’s nuclear infrastructure. But at this point, the mullahs have to regard it as money well spent. Hezbollah can be rearmed and re-equipped, and the prestige Iran has gained from this is priceless.

What's more, Lebanon is now more firmly in its grip than ever before.