BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrullah told hundreds of thousands of his supporters Friday in Beirut's bombed-out suburbs that his group will never surrender their weapons.

In his first public appearance since the start of the Israeli offensive against Lebanon in July, Nasrullah said: "No army in the world will be able to make us drop the weapons from our hands."

Nasrallah had called the rally to celebrate the "divine and historic victory" over Israel, and supporters packed a lot.

The crowd — waving hundreds of yellow Hezbollah flags — roared as Nasrullah appeared waving to the crowd, flanked by his bodyguards.

The rally was held at a barren 37-acre lot about a mile from the group's flattened headquarters. Thousands had arrived at the site from the south by foot, in buses and in cars, chanting Nasrullah's name and waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. Members of Christian parties and pro-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon also traveled to the capital to participate.