
Syrian journalist Ahmed Kamel said in a March 29, 2023 show on the Arabic-language Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Channel 9 (Turkey) that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameni is an occupier just like former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was. He said that the Syrian people would rather be occupied by Israel than by Iran, and that Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine should be “liberated” from Khamenei.
Ahmed Kamel: "In Khamenei's Iran, the Sunnis are forbidden to have mosques. When [Khamenei] liberates Palestine for us, will he allow us, Sunnis, to have mosques? Or will all the mosques of Palestine be turned into Shi'ite religious centers, where they will slap themselves, cry, wail, inflict injuries to their faces, rip their clothes, curse, swear, and types of hysteria that are inappropriate for any person on this planet? If Palestine is liberated only to be turned into [a cluster of] Shi'ite religious centers – we do not want this liberation. We say to [the Iranians]: 'Thank you, but we do not want you to liberate Palestine for us. We want to liberate Syria from you, we want to liberate Iraq from you. We want to liberate Lebanon from you, we want to liberate Yemen from you, and we want to liberate Palestine from you.
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"Khamenei, you are an occupier of our land, just like [Ariel] Sharon. In fact, people who have lived under the rule of Sharon and Netanyahu constitute a source of Envy, in the full sense of the word, for people who are occupied by you.
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"The place in Syria most suitable for human living is under the occupation of the Zionists. It makes me very sad to say this. The place in Syria least suitable – or completely unsuitable – for human living is under the occupation of Khamenei's bunch. The Syrians occupied by Iran yearn for an Israeli occupation. They yearn for it!"