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Nasrallah Appears to the Multitudes
In his first public appearance since the start of his group's war with Israel, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that "no army in the world" would be able to disarm his group, a key demand of a United Nations cease-fire resolution that ended the 34-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah."There is no army in the world that can [force us] to drop our weapons from our hands, from our grip," Nasrallah told an estimated 500,000-strong crowd, mostly Shiite Muslims, who turned out for a rally in a bombed-out suburb of Beirut to celebrate Hezbollah's "divine victory" in the war. "Today we celebrate a great divine, historic and strategic victory," Nasrallah told the crowd. He said he had decided to appear at the rally despite threats to his life. "They said that this square would be bombed and this stage would be destroyed to frighten the people and keep them away," Nasrallah said. He debated with his aides until 30 minutes before the rally, about whether to attend. "But my heart, mind and soul did not allow me to address you from afar," he said. "You are proving by attending this victory celebration that you are more courageous than on July 12 and August 14," he said, referring to the beginning and end of the month-long war. The crowd roared with cheers as Nasrallah appeared waving to the crowd, flanked by his bodyguards as an announcer said "The leader has arrived." The Hezbollah leader had been in hiding since July 12 when the group's cross-border capture of Israel Defense Forces reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and killing of eight more troops sparked the war. Roads toward Lebanon's capital were packed with cars and buses waving Hezbollah flags Friday, hours before what was billed as the country's largest rally to showcase the group's insistence that it won't disarm. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters from across south Lebanon began marching toward Beirut a day earlier. Two hours before the rally, thousands of people had already arrived at the site on foot, in buses and in cars, chanting Nasrallah's name and waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said thousands of buses, minivans and cars were streaming toward Beirut from the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley. Members of Christian parties and pro-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon were also traveling to the capital to participate in the rally, the broadcast said. During the war, Israel threatened to kill Nasrallah. An attempt to assassinate him now was considered unlikely since it would risk plunging the region back into conflict. However, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would not say in comments published Thursday whether Nasrallah remained a target. The gathering is intended as a show of strength by Hezbollah at a time of increased friction with the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. At the rally site in south Beirut, workers set up tens of thousands of white plastic chairs facing a podium and organizers prepared tens of thousands of banners and flags. Past Hezbollah rallies have drawn up to 800,000 people. Posted by: Glenmore 2006-09-22 |
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