Hizbollah blasts UN, vows to stand by Syria

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group said on Friday it would stand by Syria, blasting the United Nations for what it said was political incitement against Damascus over the killing of a Lebanese ex-premier.

Tens of thousands of Hezbollah's supporters attended the anti-Israel parade in Beirut's southern suburb in a show of force by the guerrilla group facing U.S.-led pressure to disarm in line with a 14-month-old U.N. resolution.

"We say clearly that we stand by Syria, leadership and people, in the face of its targeting by the Americans and Zionists and attempts to punish it politically for standing by Lebanon and its resistance," Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the rally.

The parade, an annual event to mark Jerusalem Day in support of Palestinians, was the first major gathering organized by the Shi'ite Muslim group since its backer and ally Syria pulled out its troops from Lebanon in April.

It also came days after a U.N. envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, said in a report the Lebanese government had not disarmed Hizbollah and Palestinian fighters in line with Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the disbanding of all militias.

"WE ARE COMING"
Some 6,000 Hizbollah fighters, in khaki, brown or black military fatigues but carrying no weapons, marched in formation in front of cheering crowds waving the group's yellow flags and chanting "Death to Israel, Death to America".