Hezbollah denies Nasrallah ill

Hezbollah denied reports that its leader Hassan Nasrallah has cancer and was recently taken to Iran for treatment. "Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is in good health and is in Lebanon and hasn't gone anywhere," a statement issued by the resistance group Tuesday said, The Daily Star said. The Lebanese website Ya Libnan quoted a Beirut radio report earlier in the week that said Nasrallah, 52, was taken to Tehran on an Iranian presidential plane. The Voice of Lebanon radio station said Nasrallah went to Tehran for emergency medical treatment for severe cancer-related complications. On Tuesday the Turkish Anadolu news agency reported Nasrallah's health had deteriorated and he was transferred from a private hospital in Beirut to Tehran. Nasrallah's deputy Naim Kassem is said to have assumed command of the organization while he is away. Hezbollah's al-Manar satellite station said Nasrallah would deliver a televised address to the public on Wednesday evening, The Daily Star said. Since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Nasrallah has rarely appeared in public and delivers televised speeches from undisclosed locations.