Lebanon Crowds Greet Ahmadinejad

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Lebanon Crowds Greet Ahmadinejad

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran waved from his car in Beirut on Wednesday.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran arrived here on Wednesday morning and was given an ecstatic welcome by supporters of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement his country backs.


Thousands of cheering supporters thronged the road that leads from Beirut’s airport to the city, waving Iranian flags, throwing flowers, and chanting greetings in Farsi as Mr. Ahmadinejad’s convoy slowly passed.


It is the Iranian president’s first state visit here since he was first elected in 2005, and it comes at a time of rising tension here between Hezbollah — a full member of Lebanon’s fragile coalition government — and its political rivals. The group has been waging a campaign against the international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, which is expected to indict several of the group’s members.


Hezbollah’s leaders have warned of disastrous consequences if that happens. They see the tribunal as an Israeli tool to discredit them and have pressured other factions to disavow it. Even without indictments, some fear the tensions could lead to violence or the collapse of Lebanon’s tenuous government.


American officials voiced their disapproval last week of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s plan to visit Lebanon, a trip that underscores how Iran’s influence has reached beyond Hezbollah.


After his arrival, Mr. Ahmadinejad appeared at a news conference alongside the Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman, to underscore Iran’s influence here, announcing several bilateral agreements on energy, water, and other issues. Iran, which has long provided arms and training to Hezbollah, has also offered repeatedly to help equip the Lebanese Army if the West cuts off its military aid in the wake of a border skirmish with Israel in August. Iranian money was crucial to the rebuilding effort after the 2006 war with Israel, a reconstruction effort directed by Hezbollah but whose benefits — apartment blocks and roads — were not limited to its followers.


Mr. Ahmadinejad was scheduled to appear late in the day in Beirut’s southern suburbs, at a rally organized by Hezbollah. On Thursday, he plans to go farther south — near the Israeli border — to highlight Iranian support for Hezbollah’s armed struggle with Israel.


The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Israel has asked the United States, France, and the United Nations to pass on the message that it views Mr. Ahmadinejad’s planned visit to southern Lebanon as a provocation.


Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit follows several other recent diplomatic missions to Lebanon, which has long been a battleground for regional powers. In August, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria met in Beirut in a rare show of unity. The Saudi king’s involvement was widely seen as an effort to legitimize greater Syrian influence in Lebanon, and over Hezbollah, in the hopes of countering Iran’s role here.


But Damascus is an Iranian ally and has shown no sign that of altering that or modifying its policies here. Earlier this month a Syrian judge issued arrest warrants for 33 Lebanese officials, including some close allies of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, saying they had misled the tribunal’s investigation. The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, has disparaged the tribunal, adding to the pressure on Mr. Hariri and his allies.


As the Iranian president’s motorcade passed on Wednesday morning, a black-clad elderly Shiite woman who gave her name only as Um Ali — the mother of Ali — waved an Iranian flag as she stood in a thick crowd of admirers, many of them women.


“He rebuilt Lebanon, we welcome him here in his second country,” she said. “God willing, we will have an Islamic republic in Lebanon.”


Nearby, a group of butchers was preparing to slaughter two camels and 10 sheep in Mr. Ahmadinejad’s honor.


“He’s an important guest, he deserves an important gift,” said Amir Salim, as he cleared the crowds away so that they would not be stained with the animals’ blood.