BEIRUT, Lebanon - With fireworks, balloons and flags of many colours, Hezbollah and its supporters Friday celebrated the Lebanese Shiite group's "victory" against Israel in a massive rally crowned by the emergence of its chief Hassan Nasrallah from 10 weeks of hiding.

Fireworks shot up in the skies of Beirut's war-battered southern suburbs after Nasrallah delivered a defiant speech lasting more than an hour in which he rejected UN demands for his guerrillas to be disarmed and claimed they now had more than 20,000 rockets with which to defend Lebanon, despite an arms embargo.

The huge open-air site of the gathering was a sea of yellow Hezbollah flags, alongside the green of Amal, another Shiite group, the orange of Christian leader General Michel Aoun and the red of the communists, as well as Lebanon's own cedar tree-emblazoned national standard.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said hundreds of thousands of people took part in the rally at which the Syrian- and Iranian-backed group's leader pointed his finger to the sky as he declared a "great divine, historic and strategic victory" over Israel in the war which ended with an August 14 ceasefire.

"People were hungry to see and hear Nasrallah," said a tall, green-eyed Hezbollah official who declined to give his name.

In a highly-organised gathering held amid tight security, Hezbollah guards in military fatigue armed with walkie-talkies kept watch from rooftops while others shepherded the flow of men, women and children, handing out bottles of water to combat the heat.

While the Lebanese army provided security on the outskirts, setting up an anti-aircraft gun at a key crossroads, Hezbollah itself was very much in charge and set up a cordon of several blocks around the site on the edge of the mixed Christian-Muslim suburb of Hadeth.

"Everyone you see on duty here is Hezbollah," said the official.

As soon as a smiling Nasrallah with his black turban and robes appeared on the tribune, the crowd burst into loud cheers, balloons were released in the air and a Hezbollah band struck up, complete with drums and bagpipes.

Nasrallah, a hero for many Arabs but public enemy No. 1 for Israel, had not been seen in public since the day war broke out on July 12 following his group's capture of two Israeli soldiers. While his whereabouts remained secret, he made a string of television appearances.

Assessing the appeal of the cleric who commands a strong political and military force, local resident Yussef Darwish, 21, said: "This is a guy who means what he says and acts on it. The people believe in him, not like the other politicians, most of whom are liars."

Garo Basmadjian, a Christian taxi driver, said that as an Aoun supporter he was proud to join the mix. "Their fear is that we have almost all the colours here," he said, referring to the anti-Syrian camp which controls parliament and whose blue was absent from the rally, except for the colour of the sky.

The young were also out in force to hear the 46-year-old Nasrallah.

Amer Yazbek, a 16-year-old Shiite high school student from the eastern city of Baalbek was wearing the green wristband of Amal, an orange scarf of Aoun's Free Patriotic Current around his neck, and a white England football shirt, while carrying a red flag.

"At every war there are deaths, but Hezbollah won this war by stopping Israel and allowing people to stay on their land," he said.

Amid a sea of women wearing the traditional Islamic veils, a group of teenaged Shiite girls appeared to be making a fashion and political statement at the same time with their sleeveless orange blouses and trendy combat-gear trousers.

Thanks to Nasrallah, "we feel we are heroes," said Jessie, a college student from the southern port town of Tyre.

Israel was unimpressed by Hezbollah's victory boast. "That's a ridiculous claim coming from a man who was forced to go into hiding again after his speech ... Nasrallah is someone who should think primarily about his own safety," said a senior official in Jerusalem, asking not to be named.

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