Gaza Will Be 'graveyard' for Israeli Troops, Warns Iran

Iran is stepping up its rhetoric in response to Israel's ground invasion of the Gaza Strip and coordinating with Syria to rally support for the Palestinians and influence the outcome of the crisis.

Ali Larijani, the powerful speaker of the Iranian majlis (parliament), warned in Tehran today that Gaza would turn into a "graveyard"for Israeli forces.

Underlining Iran's close involvement, the country's national security chief, Saeed Jalili, held talks in Beirut with the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, amid warnings from Israel that the Shia militia might try to open a second front.

Yesterday Jalili was in Damascus meeting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as the exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal and the smaller Islamic Jihad faction, which is also fighting Israel from Gaza.

Iran supports Hamas's demand that the blockade of Gaza be lifted and border crossing points into Egypt be permanently opened. Diplomats say Tehran is encouraging Hamas to oppose the Egyptian idea that the borders can be opened only if there is a monitoring role for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which controls the West Bank and is still recognised internationally as the legitimate Palestinian government.

Iran and Syria both support Hamas, while all other Arab countries formally back the PA. But Egypt and Jordan, which both have peace treaties with Israel, condemned the Gaza incursion today.

No details were released of Jalili's Beirut meeting with Nasrallah, but it will be monitored closely to see if Hezbollah moves against northern Israel. Its performance in the 2006 war is seen as a model and inspiration for Hamas.

Larijani reportedly told MPs: "The Zionist attacks have been countered with full defence and resistance of the Palestinian combatants," adding that "the Zionists must know that Gaza will become a graveyard for their forces."

The majlis speaker is also expected to visit Damascus and Beirut tomorrow for meetings on developments in Gaza.

Since the Gaza crisis began with Israel's "shock and awe" offensive on December 27, Iran has been calling for the wholesale support of Muslim world and condemned the silence of western-backed Arab states.

"The failure of some countries to move effectively regarding Israeli terrorism, as well as silence over this terrorism will have negative effects on the status of these countries," the Iranian envoy said. Jalili underlined Iran's strategic link with Hezbollah and Syria by visiting the tomb of its military leader, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Damascus last February in a killing that has been widely blamed on Israel.

Israel, supported by the US, regularly castigates Iran and Syria over their support for Hamas. Israeli officials also claim Iran is the source of some of the longer-range rockets being fired into Israel and smuggled in by sea or tunnel across the Egyptian border, during the six-month ceasefire that ended in mid-December.

Iran routinely denies transferring any weapons to Hamas. But the former president, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said during Friday prayers in Tehran: "The oppressed Palestinian people can stand up to Israel if they get political and financial support, as well as weapons."