Saturday September 23, 1:04 AM
Hezbollah won't disarm, has 20,000 rockets: Nasrallah


BEIRUT (AFP) - Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has made his first public appearance since the war with Israel at a huge "victory" rally, rejecting calls to disarm and saying his guerrilla group still had 20,000 rockets.

Nasrallah, 46, emerged Friday from more than two months in hiding to address a rapturous crowd in Beirut's shattered southern suburbs which his Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia said numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

"We are celebrating a great divine, historic and strategic victory," the charismatic, bearded cleric told the sea of supporters waving thousands of yellow flags, the color of Hezbollah.

"The resistance is stronger today than on July 12," Nasrallah said, when Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers along the Israeli-Lebanese border, triggering a month of fierce clashes.

"The resistance today has more than 20,000 rockets," he added, rejecting Israeli claims to have inflicted heavy damage on the guerrilla group.

One of Israel's stated aims in the offensive which ended in mid-August was to eliminate Hezbollah's capacity to fire rockets, thousands of which were launched at the Jewish state during the conflict, killing dozens of civilians.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which halted the war, demands the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon."