(TheTower) Iran will be renewing financial support to the Gaza-based terror organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad after two years of strained relations, the Arabic-language London newspaper a-Sharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
The move comes a month after a delegation of Islamic Jihad officials, headed by leader Ramadan Shalah, visited Iran. The delegation praised Iran for its support of the "Palestinian intifada" while meeting with senior regime officials, including Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force.
"The defense of Palestine amounts to a defense of Islam," Shalah said then. "The Arab states did not support the popular uprising in Palestine and will never support it since it contradicts their leaders’ agendas. Iran is the only state that supports the intifada and the martyrs’ families."