I think we have a winner in today’s Agence France Presse pro-Hizballah Sweepstakes: Syrians see spirit of warrior Saladin in Hezbollah leader.

DAMASCUS (AFP) - By the tomb of Saladin in the old city of Damascus, dozens of Syrians each day pray for the repose of the warrior who liberated Jerusalem — and for Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to emulate his victories today.

In the narrow lanes of the old town and the modern sector of the Syrian capital, posters of the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement are plastered on cars and the front of shops alongside the yellow flag of Hezbollah.

On widely displayed pictures of former president Hafez al-Assad, his son and successor Bashar, Nasrallah’s image has replaced that of Assad’s eldest son Basel, who died in 1998 — a significant sign of popular and official support for the Hezbollah leader. T-shirts bearing Nasrallah’s effigy sell like loaves of bread.

Many Syrians see the Hezbollah chief as the embodiment of Saladin, for leading a war under the banner of Islam, of Gamal Abdel Nasser for defying Israel, and Che Guevara for his life as a guerrilla leader.

“He is all these heroes in one, but above all he is the Saladin of our time — this one who can liberate Jerusalem” — as did the Kurdish warrior in 1187 against the Crusaders, said Manar el-Samer, 31, standing near Saladin’s tomb.

“Nasrallah is the only one to threaten Israel in the heart of its territory. For 15 days, his fighters have been fiercely resisting the most powerful military force in the region, while the Egyptian army collapsed in six days,” added the medical workers, referring to the June 1967 war with Israel.