DATE=5/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SOUTH LEBANON SITREP (L/O)
NUMBER=2-262868
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=BINT JBAIL, LEBANON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The leader of the Hezbollah resistance
movement has held his first rally in southern Lebanon
since the withdrawal by Israeli forces earlier this
week. Middle East Correspondent Scott Bobb reports
from the provincial capital of Bint Jbail, near
Lebanon's border with Israel, that the Hezbollah
leader delivered a fiery speech (eds: Friday) in which
he indicated his movement will continue its struggle
until Israeli forces have left all Lebanese territory.
TEXT: Hezbollah Leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told
an exuberant crowd in Bint Jbail that patience and
faith in God were responsible for the Israeli
withdrawal from south Lebanon.
// NASRALLAH ACT. IN ARABIC //
The Hezbollah leader proclaimed victory for the
Lebanese people, state and resistance. And he said the
region has left a period of tyranny and entered a
season of light.
A crowd of 60 thousand people, packed in this small
town nestled among rolling green hills, roared its
approval and waved the movement's yellow and black
flags.
A few kilometers away, near the town of Ramaye, scores
of people gathered by the hour (every hour) outside a
steel gate that once served as passage between Israel
and occupied South Lebanon. While Israeli troops in
armored cars watched impassively from behind the metal
fence, the crowd waved flags and chanted Hezbollah
slogans.
// SOUND OF CHANTING //
When a young man hurled an insult across the border,
Lebanese businessman Karam Nassir Aidine asked him to
restrain himself.
// AIDINE ACT.///
We don't want any problem with them. We feel
very proud. We are ok. They are withdrawn from
our land. We want them to withdraw from all the
land of Lebanon.
// END ACT.//
Many of the bystanders were Palestinians who were
gazing on their homeland for the first time in their
lives. Hadja Rasoul was born in Lebanon in 195,six
years after her parents and brothers became refugees
here. She came with her husband and own young family
to see the land she had heard so much about over the
years. But she sighed as she looked across the valley
at the modern housing complexes built by the
Israeli's.
// RASOUL ACT.///
And the land is our land. We feel very.very sad.
We hope that.we hope that one day we will
return, later.sooner or later.
// END ACT. //
Lebanese police have begun to deploy in towns in the
former buffer zone and U-N patrols are increasingly
evident. However, Hezbollah fighters have taken
control of many of the hilltop strongholds abandoned
by the Israeli troops and their allies of the now-
collapsed South Lebanon Army.
The region has been relatively quiet, but during the
day several artillery shells struck, causing no
casualties but reminding people of Israeli's warning
that it will retaliate if it is attacked. (Signed)
NEB/SB/PT
26-May-2000 20:24 PM EDT (27-May-2000 0024 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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