An Israeli former intelligence official has expressed concern over the recent visit to Syria by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi calling that “an achievement” for the resistance axis.

General Amos Gilead, a retired Israeli general officer who served, among other roles, as head of the Military Intelligence Research Division, said in a radio interview that “The Iranians now feel that Israel is weakened.”

Raz Zimmt, a leading Israeli expert on Iran, also described the visit as “an influential issue,” adding that apart from the conclusion of important economic agreements between the two sides, everything else would be an “achievement” for the resistance front.

A military correspondent for the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot also described the visit as a “lost opportunity” for the occupying regime.

“Missed opportunity: Today, the president of Iran will travel to Syria. A major response to Gaza was not only necessary, but an excellent opportunity to restore the damaged deterrence on the northern front; But the opportunity was lost, which means that the work is not managed properly,” he said.

The reactions come following Raeisi’s interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network on Tuesday, during which he pointed out that his upcoming trip to Syria would be aimed at further enhancement of the countries’ “strategic and important” relations.

During the interview, Raeisi discredited the Israeli regime’s threats against the regional resistance front, saying the regime was incapable of meeting even its own “internal security” demands, not to mention taking on the resistance.

Iran, he affirmed, has not and will not regret supporting the regional resistance front in the face of the occupying regime’s aggression.


Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, the Iranian president arrived in Syria upon an official invitation by his Syrian counterpart on Wednesday.

He was greeted at Damascus International Airport by Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil.

He was later welcomed by President Assad in an official ceremony in the People’s Palace.

The visit is the first by an Iranian president since the foreign-backed militancy gripped the Arab country in 2011.