BEIRUT - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday defended his ally Hezbollah in a growing dispute over unconfirmed reports that the party was implicated in the 2005 murder of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
"In Lebanon, a friend and a patriot was viciously assassinated and by fabricating news and abusing the legal system... (the West) accused another friend (Hezbollah) of the murder," Ahmadinejad said at a mass rally organised by the Shiite militant group in its stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Hezbollah is locked in a standoff with the current prime minister, Hariri's son Saad, over reports that the UN tribunal probing the assassination is set to indict members of the Iranian-backed party.
Ahmadinejad's visit to Beirut, his first since being elected in 2005, highlights the clout Iran wields in Lebanon through Hezbollah and comes at a sensitive time in the politically turbulent Mediterranean country.
Tensions over the tribunal have grown steadily in recent weeks, raising fears of renewed sectarian violence and the collapse of Lebanon's hard-fought national unity government.
Experts say the conflict between Hezbollah and Hariri's camp will likely escalate in the aftermath of Ahmadinejad's visit.
"In Lebanon, a friend and a patriot was viciously assassinated and by fabricating news and abusing the legal system... (the West) accused another friend (Hezbollah) of the murder," Ahmadinejad said at a mass rally organised by the Shiite militant group in its stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Hezbollah is locked in a standoff with the current prime minister, Hariri's son Saad, over reports that the UN tribunal probing the assassination is set to indict members of the Iranian-backed party.
Ahmadinejad's visit to Beirut, his first since being elected in 2005, highlights the clout Iran wields in Lebanon through Hezbollah and comes at a sensitive time in the politically turbulent Mediterranean country.
Tensions over the tribunal have grown steadily in recent weeks, raising fears of renewed sectarian violence and the collapse of Lebanon's hard-fought national unity government.
Experts say the conflict between Hezbollah and Hariri's camp will likely escalate in the aftermath of Ahmadinejad's visit.
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