Hezbollah leader declares his group has 100,000 fighters

By SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah has declared for the first time that his powerful militant group has 100,000 trained fighters. Hassan Nasrallah disclosed the size of the Shiite group’s militant arm in his first speech since seven people were killed in gunbattles on the streets of Beirut on Thursday. The confrontation erupted over a long-running probe into last year’s massive port blast in the city. In his speech Monday, Nasrallah also accused the head of a right-wing Christian party of seeking to ignite civil war in the small country. He accused the leader of the Lebanese Forces of “manufacturing” Thursday’s clashes.