Beirut, Sep 17 (DPA) Hussein Dabouk, an 18-year-old Hezbollah fighter, was killed over a month ago in clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, but his mother and sister envy him for his martyrdom and hope to rejoice in heaven.

A silver tray with chocolates decorated with Hezbollah flags and a picture of the dead martyr greets anyone entering Dabouk's house.

"Please have a chocolate to bless our beloved martyr," Hussein's 14-year-old sister Zeinab says.

Um Hussein, the mother, is clad in black and sits on a large sofa inside the family house in the Lebanese capital's devastated southern suburbs.

"Welcome to the house of our beloved martyr, to the house of the honest 'mujahideen' (holy warrior) of the Arab world," Um Hussein said, as she invited us in.

Um Hussein looked well composed as she spoke of her dead son and said: "We cry, we miss him, but we are happy for him as he is in paradise now and happy."

"I know my brother is happy because he is in paradise because martyrs go straight to paradise," said Zeinab, who chooses her words with seriousness.

"He is not a regular martyr. He is a resistance fighter and he died for a good Muslim cause."

"Bring juice and sweets for our guests," Um Hussein tells Zeinab.

The kind of juices and sweets offered in Hussein's house are usually distributed on happy occasions like weddings in Lebanon.

"For us Shia, when someone dies as a martyr like my Hussein, we have to distribute sweets as if it was his wedding," Um Hussein said proudly.

"Please do not think we do not have emotions, but my son had chosen his path, which is the resistance against Israel, and we have to respect his wish," she said with tears in her eyes.

"See we have emotions, but we are rational when it comes to martyrs who die in battlefields while defending their country from occupation," the 60-year-old lady said.

Beside Hussein's picture inside the house, there is a large picture of Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

Pointing at the picture of Nasrallah, Um Hussein said: "I will sacrifice all my children to this leader."

Hussein was killed in heavy clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon on July 14, but since then the family has been looked after closely by Hezbollah's social organisation.

The mother and her four children who are younger than Hussein have not been abandoned since her oldest son died. As soon as Hezbollah announced Hussein's death, the family was taken into the care of a Hezbollah organisation called the Association for the Support of Families and Parents of Martyrs.

The organisation was founded in the mid-1980s. Its main task is to support the families of Hezbollah fighters killed in clashes with the Israeli Army.

Said Fatima, a member of the organisation: "The needs of a martyr's family are met from the very first day especially if the person who was killed used to support his family or was the head of the family."

"We meet their demands to give them support and courage. This is my duty," she said.

Fatima explains that she has daily visits with the families of martyrs, and part of her job is to write down what they need and if all needs are met.

"It gives me great pleasure to serve the families of the martyrs and talk to them. Despite their courage and faith, they have emotions and we have to be next to them," Fatima said.