News

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.