Nasrallah taunts Israel, boasts Hezbullah holds IDF corpses, body parts

By Israel Insider staff
January 19, 2008

Nasrallah projected on a screen for the
estimated crowd of one million Shiites.

Hezbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah claimed in a bellicose speech Saturday that his group held the "heads" and "body parts" of Israeli soldiers, as well as "a nearly intact corpse". Nasrallah, living in fear of Israeli retaliation, appeared in public for the first time in more than a year to attend a Shiite religious event in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, addressing in person a reported crowd of one million.

Turning to the Israeli public, the Hezbullah leader said, "Oh, Zionists, your army is lying to you.... They were so weak on the field that they left behind remains not of one, two or three, but a large number of your soldiers.... Your army has left the body parts of your soldiers in our villages and fields," which Hizbullah collected, he continued: "I am not talking about regular body parts. I tell the Israelis, we have the heads of your soldiers, we have the heads, the hands, the feet and even a nearly intact cadaver from the head down to the pelvis," he boasted, to the roar of the crowds, excited by the mention of the world "pelvis."

Nasrallah said that the farmers, fishermen and other Lebanese are now "being threatened by Israel" and warned that Hezbullah would not accept the current situation. "We won't be able to keep silent for long over the fact that the farmers, the fellahs, the fishermen and the shepherds are in danger, and under the UN force's eyes. I warn them, and they know we are serious."

"If Israel launches a new war against Lebanon, we promise them a war which will change the fate of the entire region, God willing," he threatened.

Regarding the possibility of a future prisoner swap with Israel, Nasrallah said: "The issue of the captives is still being negotiated over. There could be positive surprises in store but there could also be negative surprises. After the last deal, we are optimistic. Things worked out well. However, we were surprised by Israel's sluggishness in the negotiations."

Nasrallah continued: "Even the positive signs that we received from Israel they retracted. I don't know why. At a certain point we felt that the Israelis were serious, but now we don't believe so. We don't get the impression that they want information, neither on the two soldiers [Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser] nor on other matters."

Surrounded by dozens of bodyguards, Nasrallah walked through the Hezbullah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut toward the stadium where he delivered the speech.

Tens of thousands of supporters cheered him, chanting "God, protect Nasrallah," and "Death to America, Death to Israel" as they celebrated the Shiite holiday of Ashoura, beating their chests and backs until blood flows in streams in a ritual commemorating the killing of Imam Hussein by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.

Shiite Ashoura festivities (file)

In response to Nasrallah's speech, the IDF released a statement Saturday night which rejected his claim that he was holding the body of a dead Israeli soldier left behind in Lebanon.

"Nasrallah is trampling the basic ethical code of human respect," according to the statement, adding that his claim of holding body parts of IDF soldiers negated basic international treaties. "Hizbullah's actions are against basic codes held dearly by various religions, including Islam," the statement said.

While the IDF has accounted for all of the bodies of the 119 soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War, officials said it was possible that small body parts were not found during evacuations under enemy fire, the Jerusalem Post reported.