Tehran, IRNA- The chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has described the liberation of the southwestern city of Khorramshahr on May 24, 1982, as a significant milestone in the Islamic Republic’s history, and a model of resistance that has forced enemies out of Islamic lands.

“Today marks a momentous event in our country's history after the Islamic Revolution, as Khorramshahr returned to the precious body of Iran, and the 3rd of Khordad became one of the most memorable days for our nation,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Wednesday at a ceremony to mark the recapture of Khorramshahr.

“The enemies were forced to retreat from Islamic lands as a result of jihad and Resistance,” he added.

“Today, we witness the effects of that jihad and martyrdom through the retreat of the enemy from Islamic lands and the disappointment of Zionists and the failure of the United States,” Gen. Salami said.

The IRGC chief emphasized that the events of the Sacred Defense era should be commomerated, noting, “If a nation fails to defend its identity, independence, and culture, it will be permanently erased from history and become captive, humiliated, submissive, and impoverished.”

May 24, best known in Iran as the 3rd of Khordad, marks the liberation of Khorramshahr following a landmark operation code-named Beit Ol-Moqaddas in 1982, during which Iranian troops put up a heroic resistance against the former Iraqi regime’s occupying forces and drove them out of the strategic port city. Some 6,000 Iranian soldiers were martyred and nearly 24,000 others were injured.

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