BEIRUT (AFP) - Hezbollah's chief Hassan Nasrallah made a rare public appearance on Friday at a rally in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, as shown on his Shiite movement's Al-Manar television.

It was a first appearance in public since last September for Nasrallah, public enemy number one for Israel and a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad whose troops have been battling an insurgency since 2011.