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BEIRUT (AFP) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
received a hero's welcome on his first official visit to Lebanon, where
he hailed the country's resistance against Israeli "aggression."

And on Thursday he was due to defy his international critics by touring
villages in the south of the country, just a few kilometres (miles) from
the Israeli border, that were destroyed during the 2006 conflict.

Ahmadinejad was showered with rice and rose petals Wednesday by tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters who lined the streets and waved Iranian flags as his motorcade made its way from the airport to the presidential palace.

He can also expect a hero's welcome in southern Lebanon Thursday, where
Iran has been a major donor in reconstruction following the month-long
2006 war.

The two-day trip is viewed as a boost for the Shiite militant
Hezbollah. Members of Lebanon's pro-Western parliamentary majority
however have criticised it as a bid to turn the country into "an Iranian
base on the Mediterranean."

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