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SLeader: Knowledge, perseverance features of Velayat war game

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Dec 8, IRNA -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution 
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that knowledge and 
perseverance in the way of God Almighty are two features which have 
grave role in the military related issues and in the big `Followers of
Velayat (Guardianship)` maneuver. 
Addressing the Army commanders and troops, involved in the war 
game, Ayatollah Khamenei called on the audience to try to follow 
knowledge and perseverance in their performance. 
The Supreme Leader hailed the military exercise as "good and 
praiseworthy" on the whole and said such maneuvers would further 
increase vibrancy, joy and combat readiness of the troops and 
different regiments. 
He said the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the 
Islamic Republic Army should put staging such maneuvers on their 
agenda. 
Referring to the tactics employed in the war game, the Supreme 
Leader stressed the need for the Army and the IRGC units to maintain 
their links and raise their speed of action, while adopting latest 
military tactics, initiatives and methods. 
The last stage of the "Followers of Velayat` war game is staged on
one of the general operation zones of the maneuver south of the 
country on Wednesday in presence of the Supreme Leader. 
The Supreme Leader inspected certain military and armored 
equipment deployed in the area as well as a well-equipped camp 
hospital, designed and set up by the Islamic Republic Army`s experts. 
In the last stage of the war game, the rapid deployment forces of 
the Islamic Republic Army went into action and launched ambush and 
defense operations against the hypothetical enemy upon noticing its 
movements and the troop deployment operations. 
Concurrently, the Islamic Republic Army`s air forces bombarded the
positions of the enemy, as its positions, equipment and helicopters 
were targeted by shoulder missiles. 
Many tactics of asymmetrical wars were used in that stage of the 
war game and several surface-to-air missile and Naze`at surface-to- 
surface missile were fired on the enemy targets. 
The Supreme Leader closely watched the operations, while being 
briefed by Commander of the Army`s ground forces and Commander of 
the military exercise. 
Prior to the maneuver, the Supreme Leader attended a meeting, 
where Commander-in-Chief of the Army Major General Salimi provided 
him with brief account of the operation and the goals behind it. 
Salimi said that the operations, the biggest maneuver held by 
the Army, applied a mix of the tactics of the asymmetrical wars, and 
of the systemic and unsystemic wars, while building-up and assessing 
the combat readiness of the forces and commanders. 
Commander of the Army`s ground forces, Brigadier General Nasser 
Mohammadi-Far and Commander of the Army`s air forces Brigadier 
General Qavami had during the war game briefed Ayatollah Khamenei 
on different operations launched by the Army`s ground and air 
forces. 
The Iranian Army`s ground forces started their "biggest ever" war 
games in five western and southern provinces, some of them bordering 
Iraq, on Friday. 
Mohammadi-Far had said upon start of the operations that ten army 
divisions as well as artillery, missile and electronic warfare units 
were taking part in the "Followers of Velayat (Guardianship` 
exercises. 
The operations, backed by C-130 tactical aircraft, were being 
carried out in Kermanshah, Ilam, Hamedan, Lorestan, and Khuzestan 
provinces, covering an area of 100,000 square kilometers (3,800 square
miles). 
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