By Xinhua
Beirut : Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah Saturday appeared in a rally to mark a major Shiite religious festival of Ashura in southern Beirut, pan-Arab satellite TV al-Jazeera reported.
The footage showed that Nasrallah closely surrounded by bodyguards walked into the rally of tens of thousands Shiites, who are gathering in southern suburbs of Beirut to observe the Ashura,marking the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
Nasrallah is expected to give a speech at the rally shortly.It’s for the first time that the Shiite militant group Hezbollah’ leader appeared before the public since his last show-up at a “victory rally” marking the end of a war between Hezbollah and Israel in September 2006.
Nasrallah went into hiding after last appearance for fear of a possible Israeli assassination.
This year’s Ashura came as the country stuck in a serious political crisis over the presidency, which has been vacant since the former president Emile Lahoud ended his term on Nov. 24.
The sharply divided Lebanese parliament has delayed elections of a new president for 12 times without a consensus.