MIDDLE EAST: In a defiant "victory" speech in a bombed-out suburb of Beirut, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday that his organisation had recovered from its month-long war with Israel and now possessed more than 20,000 rockets.
"Within days, and [ despite] emerging from a ferocious war, [ Hizbullah] has recovered all its organisational and military capabilities . . . it is stronger than it was before July 12th," he told a cheering crowd of several hundred thousand people.
Under intense security amid fears of an assassination attempt, Sheikh Nasrallah was making his first public appearance since the war began more than 10 weeks ago.
Israel has been particularly anxious to prevent Hizbullah from rearming. According to various estimates, the organisation had fewer than 20,000 rockets before the conflict and fired about 4,000 during it. Although Sheikh Nasrallah's latest claim is impossible to verify, he has a reputation for not bluffing.
Flanked by bodyguards and with only his head visible above a protective screen labelled "Victory Festival 2006", he said that his guerrillas would never surrender their weapons: "No army in the world will be able to make us drop the weapons from our hands."
But he said Hizbullah would consider disarming once the Lebanese government was strong enough to protect the country.
"When we build a strong and just state that is capable of protecting the nation and the citizens, we will easily find an honourable solution to the resistance issue and its weapons," he said.
Sheikh Nasrallah told the crowd that he had decided to appear despite threats to his life, having debated with his aides until 30 minutes before the rally began about whether to attend.
Since the war, Israeli officials have said that they would continue to target Hizbullah's leadership, but the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, refused to comment on Thursday on whether Israel would try to kill Sheikh Nasrallah at the rally.
Thousands of people had walked to the rally from Shia villages in south Lebanon which were battered by Israel's bombardment and invasion. Many of them carried pictures of Sheikh Nasrallah and wore yellow Hizbullah T-shirts.
Sheikh Nasrallah devoted much of his speech to deriding the western-backed government of Fouad Siniora, in which Hizbullah has two ministerial posts.
Former president Amin Gemayel, a sharp critic of Hizbullah, described parts of the speech as dangerous. "He is linking giving up Hizbullah's weapons to regime-change in Lebanon and . . . to drastic changes on the level of the Lebanese government," Mr Gemayel said.
The rally had been expected to coincide with the final withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south, but Israel's army chief said on Wednesday that the pull-out might take a few more days. - (Guardian Service, Reuters)