Residents of southern Lebanon are brimming with excitement ahead of a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is expected to tour the border area with his arch-enemy Israel in a message of defiance.
“I can’t wait to see Ahmadinejad get close to the barbed wire and show the Israelis that he has them by the throat,” said Abdullah, of the border village of Kfar Kila, who refused to give his real name.
“Can you imagine? He is going to stand barely a meter from Israel and that’s so symbolic,” said Abdullah, who runs a restaurant at Fatima Gate, just beyond the border fence between the two countries.
The Iranian leader’s visit to Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday is at the invitation of his counterpart Michel Sleiman.
The official first day of the trip, his first to Lebanon since he became president, is expected to proceed smoothly. It is the unofficial part the following day, when Ahmadinejad is set to be taken on a tour of the south by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah — considered a proxy of Iran — that has prompted jitters.
Members of Lebanon’s pro-Western parliamentary majority have labelled that a provocation. That is especially so as it comes at a time of high tension over unconfirmed reports that a UN-backed tribunal is set to charge Hezbollah members in connection with the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, the current prime minister’s father.
Washington, which along with its allies is embroiled in a long-running dispute with Iran over its controversial nuclear program, this week also expressed concern over Ahmadinejad’s visit, and Israel likened it to “a big landowner coming to inspect his property.”
Hezbollah, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the US, has provided no details on the visit, but preparations for a hero’s welcome are going full throttle in areas controlled by the militant party.
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