Hezbollah rally in Beirut against Gaza siege

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut on Friday for a mass protest organized by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement against Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Streets in the southern suburbs were cordoned off as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and yellow Hezbollah flags poured into the Hezbollah stronghold as loudspeakers blasted out a speech by its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

"We are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea," Hezbollah's deputy head Naim Kassem told the crowd.

"The Palestinian cause is a just cause," he said from a platform on a main road in the area.

Hezbollah boy scouts and women in black chadors carried two huge Palestinian flags while Hezbollah security personnel marched carrying photographs of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic republic.

Some protesters chanted "Death to Israel! Death to America!" as others carried placards reading "No peace if it leads to humanitarian catastrophe" and "May God protect our leader Nasrallah."

"Demonstrations aren't enough. Military action is required to eliminate Israel," said Mosbah Karout, 42, in Beirut from south Lebanon for the event.

Similar smaller demonstrations were held in cities in the south, north and in the Bekaa Valley, east of the capital.

Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement ousted forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007, was tightened even further last month because of an upsurge in violence.

The imposition of the blockade on Gaza by Israel violates international law and constitutes collective punishment, according to the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations.

Gazans have faced severe food, medicine and energy shortages because of the Israeli blockade.

Hamas and Hezbollah, considered terrorist organizations by the United States, both advocate "resistance" to Israel.

We are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea,

Hezbollah deputy head Naim Kassem