Hezbollah supporters have headed towards the Lebanese capital for a massive "victory" rally after the devastating war with Israel amid suspense over whether the group's chief Hassan Nasrallah will emerge from hiding. AFP correspondents in southern Lebanon said Thursday that Hezbollah's hardcore supporters were taking the road to Beirut, on foot as well as by car, for Friday's show of strength, while the government complained of renewed Israeli violations of its airspace.
Villagers gathered in the southern port town of Tyre for a 80-kilometre (50-mile) march to Beirut donned the yellow T-shirts of Hezbollah and caps marked "Nasrallah, we respond to your call", even as Israeli aircraft made a low-altitude pass.
Hezbollah officials said thousands were to take part in the march.
Israel's announced delay until next week in withdrawing its last soldiers from Lebanon, initially expected to take place by this Friday, denied the Shiite militant group an extra celebration at the rally.
Fighting off a tumble in his coalition's approval ratings since the July-August war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert joined the fray to insist it was the Jewish state which emerged victorious.
A rift on the Beirut political scene amid Hezbollah calls for a new national unity government has also come to the fore, with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora stopping short of viewing the conflict which ended with an August 14 ceasefire as a victory.
"We succeeded in preventing Israel from winning the war," he said on Arab television, while pointing out he had not been invited to the demonstration.
Siniora has said the war cost Lebanon billions of dollars, setting back the country several years, on top of the more than 1,200 people killed in the 34-day conflict sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Organisers of the rally said their aim was to make it one of the biggest demonstrations in Lebanon's history, with supporters of Hezbollah's Christian ally, General Michel Aoun, among several political groups taking part, As-Safir newspaper reported.
Along with Amal, the Shiite party of parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and Palestinian groups, "the main leaders of Hezbollah will be present, but we cannot say if Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah will be there, for security reasons," spokesman Hossein Rahal said.
Nasrallah, a hero for many Arabs but public enemy No 1 for Israel, has not been seen in public since the day war broke out. While his whereabouts remain secret, he has made a string of Arab television appearances.
Asked on Israeli television whether Nasrallah would be a target if he turned up Friday, Israel's army chief Dan Halutz said: "I prefer not to answer that question."
Officials in Beirut said Siniora has instructed the foreign ministry to submit a protest to the UN Security Council over Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace and alleged Israel was pumping water from the Wazzani river in the south.
Israel on Wednesday delayed pulling out its remaining troops until next week, saying questions still had to be ironed out with the beefed-up UN peacekeeping force and the Lebanese army, both of which have been extending their deployment in south Lebanon.
The Beirut demonstration, kicking off after midday weekly Muslim prayers, is to be held on a huge open plot, cleared by Hezbollah, next to their Shiite southern suburbs stronghold that was battered by Israeli air strikes.
"The victory rally will be dedicated to the martyrs, the wounded, the prisoners (held by Israel) and all those who supported the resistance," said Nasrallah, whom Israel targeted in a July 14 air strike.
In the anti-Syrian Christian camp, the Lebanese Forces, whose militia was disbanded after the 1975-1990 civil war, were to hold their own rally on Sunday in memory of their own "martyrs" during the conflict.
