Nasrallah says no army can disarm Hizbollah

[stu]

By Yara Bayoumy

Fri Sep 22, 1:24 PM ET

 

 

 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday rejected international calls to disarm his Lebanese guerrillas and told a huge "victory" rally they still had more than 20,000 rockets after a month of war with Israel.

 

Speaking to a sea of followers at a "divine victory" rally in south Beirut, Nasrallah said Hizbollah had emerged stronger from a conflict in which Israel declared it had destroyed most of the Shi'ite Muslim group's arsenal.

 

"The resistance today, pay attention...has more than 20,000 rockets," he told hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters in his first public appearance since the war broke out in July.

 

"(It) has recovered all its organizational and military capabilities...it is stronger than it was before July 12."

 

Nasrallah warned the reinforced United Nations peacekeepers who are deploying in southern Lebanon as Israeli forces withdraw not to seek confrontation with Hizbollah.

 

"Your mission is not to spy on Hizbollah or to disarm the resistance," he told a crowd packed into the Shi'ite Muslim suburbs which were heavily bombed in the 34-day war.

 

"...There is no army in the world that can (force us) to drop our weapons from our hands, from our grip," he declared.

 

Nasrallah's estimate of Hizbollah's retained arsenal is five times greater than the total number it fired into Israel during the war, and higher than any previous figure he has given.

 

He also said measures to stop Hizbollah rearming, including international forces patrolling the Lebanese coast and tighter security on the border with Lebanon, would have little impact.

 

"I say to them: blockade the borders and the seas and the skies -- this will not weaken the will of the resistance or the weapons of the resistance," he said.

 

NEW GOVERNMENT

 

The huge turnout in a country of just four million was a gesture of defiance to Israel but also marked a challenge to the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

 

Hizbollah has two ministers in the cabinet, but most cabinet members oppose the group's alliances with Syria and Iran.

 

Nasrallah called for a change of government in Lebanon and slammed Arab leaders for failing to defend the Lebanese people.

 

"The current government is unable to protect Lebanon, or to reconstruct Lebanon or to unify Lebanon," he said.

 

"The building of an able, just and strong state starts first with the establishment of a national unity government. This is our new project that we will work for with all our force in the coming stage."

 

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 the pullout might take a few more days.

 

Israeli forces have been gradually leaving territory they captured in fighting that began after Hizbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

 

Israel and Hizbollah have both declared themselves victors in the war which killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.

 

Israeli warplanes pounded Hizbollah strongholds during the war and bombarded bridges and roads across the country, forcing almost a million people to flee their homes. Hizbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.

 

Thousands had walked to the rally from Shi'ite villages in south Lebanon battered by Israel's bombardment and invasion.

 

The Beirut crowds carried pictures of Nasrallah and yellow Hizbollah flags bearing the message: "Here we are Nasrallah."

 

Many wore yellow T-shirts and chanted pro-Hizbollah slogans. Some said they were there not only to celebrate but also simply to see the charismatic Nasrallah.

 

"God was generous to us and granted us this victory against our enemy. He was generous to us and gave us Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah so we come here to celebrate with him," Hussein Kaddouh, 29, from the southern village of Yater, told Reuters.