Nasrallah in first public appearance since 2008

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah made his first public appearance since 2008 on Tuesday, appearing before a frenzied crowd in his stronghold on the occasion of the Shiite commemoration of Ashura. Nasrallah spoke to the crowd of thousands for only a few minutes in the southern suburbs of Beirut before being whisked away by his nervous-looking bodyguards. Considered a prime target for his arch-enemy Israel, Nasrallah last appeared in public in July 2008, on the occasion of the release of five Lebanese prisoners by Israel. He was to continue speaking on Tuesday but via video link for security reasons. The head of the Shiite militant party told his supporters that although he wished to stay with them in person, he was only able to remain on stage only for a few minutes. Hezbollah, blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Washington, fought a war with Israel in 2006 that left much of Lebanon in ruins.