Wapo, Reg req'd, posted the whole thing.BEIRUT, Sept. 22 -- In the mix of theater and pulpit that makes for a Hezbollah rally, the group's leader, Hasan Nasrallah, appeared Friday before hundreds of thousands of supporters for the first time since its war with Israel ended last month. His message was defiant, with the bravado the crowd expected: Hezbollah was stronger than before the war, he said, and it still possessed more than 20,000 rockets. Only the creation of a strong Lebanese government, he added, would lead to its disarmament, as demanded by the United Nations.
Kamal Ribai, a shy, soft-spoken businessman in the crowd with his son and two daughters, thrust his fist into the air. "At your command, Nasrallah!" he shouted, as six balloons floated above him carrying Lebanese and Hezbollah flags.
In an anxious and unsettled time in Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim group organized its largest show of force since a cease-fire went into effect Aug. 14. The spectacle filled a 37-acre lot, about a mile from the group's war-wrecked headquarters in a Beirut suburb, with flag-waving, boisterous supporters.
For the movement and the rest of the country, the rally signaled Hezbollah's direction after a battle it has proclaimed a "divine victory." Sounding less strident than some had expected, Nasrallah said he would seek a government that better represented his group and its allies, ridiculed the prime minister and scoffed at the attempts of "any army in the world" to seize its weapons.