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We Have Soldiers' Heads, Hezbollah Tells Israel

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By NADA BAKRI, The New York Times

Published: January 20, 2008

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, on Saturday made his first public appearance here since the 2006 war with Israel, restating his claim that the militant group possessed the remains of several Israeli soldiers left on the battlefields of southern Lebanon.

Nasrallah, taking part in events to mark Ashura, which commemorates the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein and is the most important holiday for Shiite Muslims, delivered an unusually graphic speech detailing the body parts his group had.

The speech, before a huge crowd in Beirut's southern suburbs, appeared to be aimed at pressing Israel to expedite negotiations over a deal in which Lebanese and Arab prisoners would be exchanged for the remains of Israeli soldiers. But Nasrallah did not make any reference to the two Israeli soldiers whose capture in a cross-border raid set off the war or about whether they were still alive.

The Israeli soldiers "were so weak on the field that they left behind remains not of one, two or three but a large number of your soldiers," said Nasrallah, his image towering above the crowd on a huge screen as he spoke. "I am not talking about regular body parts. I tell the Israelis, we have the heads of your soldiers, we have hands, we have legs."

A spokesman for Israel's Defense Ministry, Shlomo Dror, said his government "does not relate" to such claims, and he cast doubt on their veracity. "It shows the moral standard of the man, that's all," he said.

Nasrallah also said his group was ready for any conflict with Israel, warning that if the Israelis attacked, "we promise them a war that will change the face of the entire region."

Lebanon has been without a president for nearly two months because of a standoff between the Western-backed majority government and the Hezbollah-led opposition supported by Iran and Syria.

As Nasrallah spoke, Amr Moussa, the Arab League's secretary general, was promoting a three-point Arab plan to solve Lebanon's crisis.

The initiative calls for the appointment of Gen. Michel Suleiman, the army chief, to the presidency, as well as a unity government and a new electoral law to avert future crises.

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