Hassan Nasrallah wants to celebrate Hezbollah's "victory" with a massive rally in Beirut, in the suburbs that have served as a Hezbollah stronghold for decades. That apparently won't be enough for Nasrallah, however, as he will not commit to appearing at his own victory rally:

Hizbullah's leader on Sunday called for a massive rally in Beirut's bombed out southern suburbs to mark the militant group's "victory" over Israel during the monthlong fighting this summer.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the rally, to be held Friday evening, would show Hizbullah's "absolute commitment to our right to recover our land and prisoners and defend our nation, its dignity, freedom, sovereignty and real and full independence in the face of [Israeli] occupation."

"I call on all of you to participate in this victory rally," he said in a brief, televised speech broadcast on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV station.

Nasrallah, who went into hiding on July 12, the start of the 34-day war, and has not been seen publicly since, did not say whether he would take part personally in the rally. He has hinted in interviews that he would appear at some point, possibly at a rally, but did not say when.

Nasrallah has to be the best stand-up (or ducked-down) comic in Lebanon. He wants to stage a massive victory rally -- only the second such demonstration for Hezbollah in that area -- but cannot show up to it himself for fear of the people who he supposedly beat in the war he's celebrating.

Memo to Hassan: The grand marshal of victory parades generally show up for their round of approbation. When they can't make it, it's not because their enemy has so much reach that the victor can't show his face in public.

There is a word for people in Nasrallah's position: loser.

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"Hezbollah's leader called Sunday for a massive rally in Beirut's bombed out southern suburbs to mark the militant group's 'victory' over Israel during the monthlong fighting this summer," the AP reports. Nasrallah went into hiding on July 12, the star... [Read More]

Tracked on September 18, 2006 12:38 PM