Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday appeared in public for the time in more than a year, declaring that Hizbullah has the "heads" and "body parts" of soldiers that the Israeli army had abandoned. "We have the heads, the hands, the feet and even a nearly intact corpse from the head down to the pelvis," he said in a speech delivered in Beirut's southern suburbs in commemoration of Ashura, Shiite Islam's holiest day.
"The Israeli army left behind the remains of the bodies of a large number of soldiers," said Nasrallah.
Amid heavy security, Nasrallah took part in Ashura in the southern suburbs of Beirut, heading a procession of tens of thousands of Shiite faithful.
During his speech, he warned Israel that if it launched a war against Lebanon, "then I promise you a war that will change the world and the face of this region."
Nasrallah also called on Arab and Muslim leaders and organizations to respond to US President George W. Bush's recent visit to the region by adhering to sanctities. "In face of Bush's visit dictations and Satanic visions which he seeks to impose on the region, Arab and Islamic government, people and organizations are called to respond with adhering to the resistance and supporting it politically, financially, militarily and in every way they can," he said. Nasrallah added that Bush wants to convince Arabs that Iran is their enemy and that Israel is their friend. "We have to underscore the real identity of the enemy and we have to know our friend…Therefore, our Arab governments and people should refuse to be dragged into wars that can only lead to the destruction of our countries and the killing of our people," Nasrallah warned.
The Hizbullah Secretary General said that the Palestinian people, the Gazans in particular, are making ultimate sacrifices, "What do the Arab and Islamic worlds have to say about this," the Shiite leader asked. "During the 2006 Israeli war, I told the Arabs and the Muslims that we don't want anything from you. But today, I demand that all Arab governments and people stand by the Palestinian people and the Gazans who are now facing genocide. Perhaps the simplest thing to do is to lift the siege. Otherwise, the Arabs would be accepting disgrace and abolishing their Arabic identity. The fate of those people should not be left to the tyrants," Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah said that he does not believe that the Israeli have political and military leaderships as well as an army to launch another war against Lebanon. "But we must not leave anything for surprises. The Islamic Resistance is fully prepared and I would like to reiterate that if Israel launches a new war against Lebanon, we promise them a war that will change the face of our region," he warned.
He said that the Israelis are procrastinating because they are weak and unable to offer normal humanitarian prices. "Your (Israeli community) army has been lying to you. Your army did leave the body parts of its soldiers behind in our villages and battlefields. I am not speaking about simple body parts. We have heads, hands, feet and even a nearly intact body. What did your army tell the family of these soldiers? The Israeli army denied it had left body parts behind but not for a long time, because they know that we don't lie," Sayyed he stressed.
