Lebanon's Nasrallah emerges as idol post war

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Whether he is despised or adored by Lebanese, Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has emerged as an idol in the wake of his group's war with Israel.

In an attempt to negotiate the release of Lebanese prisoners of war in Israel, the group seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, sparking a 34-day war which claimed the lives of some 1,200 Lebanese and 157 Israelis.

But despite the high human death toll and multi-billion dollar devastation, Nasrallah only grew in the eyes of his followers.

He became an Arab and Muslim political icon who actually delivered on his word to confront Israel, a promise which disenchanted Arabs had learned to ignore whenever they heard it from their mostly pro-U.S. leaders.

Before the last conflict, Nasrallah's group, which he has headed since 1992, managed to oust Israeli forces from south Lebanon in 2000 in a bloody guerrilla war.

Hundreds of thousands of people crammed into Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday just to see the stocky, bespectacled, full-bearded man who speaks with a lisp and whom they had not seen in the flesh since the war.

"Seeing Nasrallah was a feeling which assured the world that Israel which is undefeatable has been defeated," said Loritta Nasreldin, 37, as she left the rally.

Outside shops in Damascus, his picture is often seen next to that of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's former president who fought for Arab nationalism and who has gone down in Arab history as the most charismatic leader of the century in the region.

"I came from Syria just to see (Nasrallah). He's the one that gave us back our pride. Without him, we're nothing," said Mohamed Mahmoud, a 26-year-old Syrian, on the day of the rally.

For many supporters, Nasrallah's comments on refusing to disarm and calling for national dialogue in a country plagued with internal political rifts paled in insignificance to the fact that they had just managed to see him.

"It was an indescribable feeling to see him. It was as if one saw the Prophet Mohammad," said a 39-year-old civil defense worker at the rally who gave her name as Sajedah.

Even Lebanese politicians who are at odds with Nasrallah concede he is not one to be ignored.

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, a close aide to anti-Syrian Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt, lashed out at Nasrallah for dragging the country into an unwanted war, but added in remarks quoted in a newspaper on Sunday:

"We respect a rally of that size and a leader as big as (Nasrallah) ... The victory that was achieved is something we must be proud of."

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