By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and BASSEM MROUE

Source:

October 13, 2010

BEIRUT – Thousands of cheering Lebanese welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Lebanon on Wednesday, throwing rose petals and sweets at his motorcade during a visit that underscores the growing power of Tehran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.

Ahmadinejad is making his first state visit to Lebanon at a time when tensions are mounting between Hezbollah and Western-backed parties in the government. The growing crisis could bring down Lebanon’s unity government, in which both sides share power in a tenuous arrangement.

The divisions were thrown into sharp relief by Ahmadinejad’s presence. The exuberant welcome in the streets was largely organized by Hezbollah, who encouraged the mostly Shiite crowd to come out in droves. Ahmadinejad’s trip also includes a provocative excursion to the border with archenemy Israel on Thursday.

But the Iranian leader’s splashy arrival only exacerbates fears among many Lebanese – particularly Sunnis and Christians – that Hezbollah and Iran are trying to impose their will on the country and possibly pull Lebanon into a conflict with Israel.

Ahmadinejad said he was a friend of all Lebanese, while emphasizing the need to fight Israel.

“We seek a unified, modern Lebanon, and we stand by the Lebanese government and people,” he said Wednesday during a news conference with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. He said both Lebanon and Iran “oppose the occupation and aggression and the crimes committed by the Zionist enemy and those who support it.”

Trailed by heavily armed security in bulletproof vests, Ahmadinejad smiled and waved to the crowds from the sunroof of his black SUV as he headed from the airport to the presidential palace to meet Suleiman. Thousands of supporters massed along the highway, which runs near the main Shiite district of south Beirut.

“Ahmadinejad has done a lot for Lebanon, we are here to thank him,” said Fatima Mazeh, an 18-year-old engineering student who took the day off from classes to join the crowds. “He’s not controlling Lebanon. Everyone has a mind and can think for himself. We are here to stand with him during the hardest times.”

Hezbollah boasts widespread support among Shiites, virtually runs a state-within-a-state in Shiite areas and has the country’s strongest armed force. Iran funds Hezbollah to the tune of millions of dollars a year and is believed the supply much of its arsenal.

Iran also helped rebuild homes in southern Lebanon’s Shiite heartland after the widespread destruction caused in Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel.

Ali Chehade, a 32-year-old math teacher, told his kids to take the day off to come to the airport road, where giant posters of Ahmadinejad towered over the road, while loudspeakers blasted anthems and women in the crowd sold Hezbollah flags and balloons to onlookers.

“Ahmadinejad is a big leader in the region because of his words about the resistance,” he said, referring to Iran’s support for what Hezbollah touts as its armed resistance to Israel.

Not everyone welcomed Ahmadinejad, however. A group of 250 politicians, lawyers and activists sent an open letter to Ahmadinejad on Tuesday, criticizing Tehran’s backing of Hezbollah and expressing worry Iran was looking to drag Lebanon into a war with Israel.

“One group in Lebanon draws power from you … and has wielded it over another group and the state,” the letter said, addressing Ahmadinejad.

“Your talk of ‘changing the face of the region starting with Lebanon’ and ‘wiping Israel off the map through the force of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon’ … makes it seem like your visit is that of a high commander to his front line,” it said.

In the northern Lebanon town of Tripoli, home to many Sunnis, posters have gone up in recent days showing Ahmadinejad’s face crossed out, above the words: “No welcome to the rule of clerics.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Ahmadinejad visit is intentionally provocative. “It is quite clear that he is the bearer of a violent message. He comes to a highly volatile region with the intention to play with fire,” he said.

It “emphasizes that a state within a state has emerged in Lebanon over the last few years, referring obviously to the Hezbollah state,” he added. “It seems that after he stole votes in Tehran, he is now coming here to steal the whole country.”

But even in the mouthpiece newspapers of parties opposed to Hezbollah, criticism of Ahmadinejad was muted, as the government sought to treat the visit like that of any other head of state. The government is headed by the leader of the pro-Western factions – Prime Minister Saad Hariri – but his Cabinet includes members both from Hezbollah and from fiercely anti-Hezbollah parties.

Ahmadinejad is to make public appearances expected to draw giant crowds in two Hezbollah strongholds – one in south Beirut later Wednesday, another the following day in Bint Jbeil, a border village that was bombed during the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war. The village lies barely two and a half miles (four kilometers) from the Israeli border.

The trip to Lebanon is Ahmadinejad’s first since he became president in 2005. Since that time, Lebanon has seen the rise of the pro-Western March 14 coalition that may have made such a trip politically untenable.

But now the March 14 coalition is struggling, allowing Iran a strong opportunity to show its power.

The last Iranian president to visit Lebanon was Mohammad Khatami in 2003. That trip marked the first visit by an Iranian president to Lebanon since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The show of support for Hezbolklah from Iran comes as many Lebanese worry over a possible impending blow to the unity government.

A U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri – Saad’s father – is expected to indict members of Hezbollah as soon as this month, raising concerns of possible violence between the Shiite force and Hariri’s mainly Sunni allies.