Hizbullah chief in public for the first time in more than a year

Source: AFP, 19-1-2008
Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appeared in public for a Shia religious event in the Lebanese capital for the first time in more than a year.
Nasrallah has been "Israel's" top public enemy since Hizbullah fought a deadly month-long war against the Zionist state in the summer of 2006.
Amid heavy security, he took part in an event for the Shia religious commemoration of Ashura in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, heading a procession of tens of thousands of Shia faithful.
"God, protect Nasrallah," chanted the crowd, carrying portraits of Nasrallah. His last public appearance was at a massive "victory" rally in the Shia suburbs in September 2006 in the wake of the war against "Israel" during which he went into hiding.
"Israel's" war with Hizbullah, which followed the capturing of two "Israeli" soldiers, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 civilians in Lebanon, a third of them children, as well as 160 "Israelis", mostly soldiers.
"Israel" failed in both its stated aims for launching the war: to stop rocket fire on northern "Israel" and to recover the two soldiers.