the scent of resistance

A new perfume carrying the "scent of resistance" and celebrating Hizbullah's "divine victory" has been released on the market in Lebanon, according to a report which appeared in the Lebanese Daily Star on Monday.

"If you've ever wondered what resistance smells like, then try a dab of 'Resistance Perfume,' which comes 'exclusively' with a political message and a picture of Hizbullah's secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," the Daily Star article said.

"Apparently, the scent of resistance is a strong and musky one that comes with a single pledge -- 'a truthful' one," the report added.

A slogan on the perfume box, quoting Nasrallah during a wartime speech made over the summer reads: "You are the truthful promise... and I have great faith in you and I promise you divine victory."

The Daily Star, which placed quotation marks around every mention of Israel in its report, added that the package comes with "a digitally manipulated picture of a sinking ship, meant to represent the 'Israeli' warship damaged by a Hizbullah missile during the conflict, along with reprints of Nasrallah's speeches and messages from the 'Lebanese prisoners in 'Israeli' prisons.'"

'Hizbullah not a commercial venture'
Mohammad Dekmak, CEO of the Bint Huda chain of stores in the south Beirut area, told the Daily Star: "We thought it was a catchy idea, as now the perfume is more than something that smells nice, it is a political statement."

The report said the perfume's designer initially came by the Beirut store "carrying 40 samples of the perfume in a plastic bag -- and sold them all within minutes."

Hizbullah Spokesman Ghassan Darwish was quoted by the Star as saying: "We don't like to encourage people to turn Hizbullah into a commercial venture, but since the perfume is called 'Resistance' and not 'Hizbullah,' we have no right to really prevent it from being sold as resistance is a broad ideology not limited to one party."

Respnding to the perfume, a pro-Hizbullah demonstrator in Beirut told the Lebanese newspaper that he was "content with showering and using plain soap."