PBS: Hezbollah Leader ‘Famous for His Sense of Humor’

Amanpour: So, Ben, you know, you’ve described the speech and he obviously did what he was expecting to do and said there’ll be retaliation. But you also said he looked a bit tired. And I wonder whether your sources are telling you what they think might happen next.”
WEDEMAN: “No, we don’t. And certainly, he was not very emphatic about Hezbollah’s retaliation for this week’s blast in Lebanon. Back in late July and early August, in the aftermath of the assassination of Fuad Shukr, that senior Hezbollah military commander, he was very emphatic that revenge is coming. There’s no question about it. He put it in very definitive terms. This time he said there will be an accounting, but we will decide when and where that will happen. So, he looked tired. We know that Hezbollah has been rattled as a result of this week’s events, that they are feeling perhaps more insecure and more vulnerable than they have in quite some time. You know, Hezbollah has always had a reputation as being a very tightly controlled organization, very disciplined, very able to sort of keep its secrets. And it prided itself that it has not been infiltrated, for instance, like Fatah, the Palestinian faction that operated in Gaza and is still in the West Bank. That there aren’t a lot of traitors to Hezbollah among its ranks. Now there are serious questions about how good they actually are at maintaining internal security. So, yes, Nasrallah was not his usual sort of, despite all events, somewhat jovial self. He’s famous for his sense of humor. He often chuckles during his speech. This time he looked tired and he looked very concerned, Christiane.”

Amanpour: Well, it certainly is a really important time. Thank you. Thank you for being there and giving us that report.