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Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=24355
Hizballah Rising: The Political Battle for the Loyalty of the Shi'a of Lebanon
(MERIA/IMRA) Rodger Shanahan - Hizballah is genuinely popular in Lebanon, both as a consequence of its resistance activities that prompted the 2000 withdrawal of the IDF from the country's south, as well as its ability to achieve the return of prisoners from Israeli jails in return for the remains of IDF soldiers. For Hizballah, the withdrawal of the Israelis gave it the ability to announce both its Lebanese nationalist credentials, as well as its wider authority as the only Arab group to defeat Israel militarily. In May 2004, the party staged a mass rally of over 250,000 people in Beirut to protest U.S. military incursions into the Iraqi holy sites at Karbala and Najaf, indicating its mass appeal.