Hezbollah vows at mass Beirut rally to keep up 'jihad' in Syria

From YNET News.

Hezbollah vows at mass Beirut rally to keep up 'jihad' in Syria

Thousands of black-clad supporters in Beirut respond to speech by terror organization leader urging to continue the fighting in the neighboring war-torn country, saying 'We answer your call, o Nasrallah!'

The Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah vowed to maintain its "jihad" in neighboring Syria at a huge rally in Beirut on Wednesday, a day after its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the war was in a phase of escalation.

Addressing thousands marking Shi'ite Islam's annual Ashura religious commemoration in a heavily secured square in Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, Nasrallah said the war in Syria was being fought in defense of the whole region.

"We will continue to bear our great responsibilities of jihad there. Your sons are there, and your men, your brothers, your husbands. They are defending their existence, dignity and the resistance," he said.

In a speech on Tuesday, Nasrallah asserted the Middle East was in a phase of escalating tension and there appeared to be no prospect of a political solution to the war in Syria.

"The regional scene is currently one of tension and escalation, and it does not appear that there are paths for negotiations or solutions," he said in a rare live televised speech before thousands of supporters in Beirut, adding that "the theater (in Syria) was open to more tension, escalation and confrontation."

Martyrs

Three young men wearing T-shirts showing the image of their brother who had died in Syria stood by the road as organized groups of Hezbollah supporters in the guise of religious penitents marched past in black clothes and bare feet.

Alaa Nayef Amhaz from Baalbek was 22 when he was killed last year fighting for Hezbollah in the Syrian town of Zabadani, where the army and its Shi'ite allies besieged rebels after months of intense battles.

"The importance of being in Syria is to defend Islam and religion and the nation of the Prophet Mohammed," Amhaz's younger brother Emad, 20, a green scarf over his head and a tattoo circling his wrist, said between puffs on a cigarette.

The most emotive date in the Shi'ite calendar, the death of Hussein at Kerbala is seen as providing an exemplar for how the sect should always stand up against tyranny and social injustice, offering up their lives if necessary.