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Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that the 2006 war against Israel was not over and his group had never agreed to a ceasefire.
Thousands of Lebanese turned out on Thursday for two opposing gatherings, Shiite Muslim supporters of Hezbollah gathered to bid farewell to the slain top commander, and pro-Western opponents gathered at a down town square to mark former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination.
Both gatherings were symbolic of Lebanon’s divide. Along with the gatherings came increased fears of violence between the rival sides, prompting authorities to deploy thousands of troops and set up blockades on major roads.
Hezbollah urged crowds to its stronghold of south Beirut, to march behind the coffin of Emad Mughnieh, the group's former security chief and one of world's most wanted fugitives, killed in a car bombing in Syria on Tuesday night.
Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in hiding because of fears of assassination since the 2006 summer war with Israel, addressed mourners through a video broadcast over a giant screen.
Meanwhile, the mood in south Beirut was somber, in Martyrs' Square, tens of thousands commemorated the third anniversary of Hariri's assassination, braving the rain and the cold, waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain Hariri and party banners.
There were no independent crowd estimates, but majority leader Saad Hariri, the late premier's son, greeted what he said was a crowd of 1.5 million. Some beat drums and cheered as speakers lashed out at the opposition.
He launched a scathing attack against the Syrian government but did not criticize Hezbollah, saying: "Our hand will remain extended no matter what difficulties and conspiracies there are."
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, said the government would not succumb to opposition efforts to deliver Lebanon "to the Iranian-Syrian black evil world."
The stauch anti-Hezbollah politician Jumblatt accused Syria and the "treacherous regime" of its President Bashar Assad of killing Mughnieh.
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