BREAKING: ISRAEL BRACES FOR WAR, AHMADINEJAD "TO HURL STONES AT ISRAELI SOLDIERS"

Israel braces for regional escalation ahead of Ahmadinejad's Lebanon visit

London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports Iran leader wants to reach border fence to hurl stones at Israeli soldiers on the other side.

Israel is stepping up preparations for the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Lebanon next week, during which he is scheduled to visit the country's border area with Israel.

The Iranian leader will visit Lebanon next Wednesday and Thursday, and is slated to visit the southern Lebanese villages of Bint Jbeil and Maroun al-Ras, each within a few kilometers of Israeli soil. The London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi has reported that Ahmadinejad is interested in reaching the border fence to hurl stones at Israeli soldiers on the other side.



A top-ranking Israeli official said the Foreign Ministry and security services are conducting security evaluations of Ahmadinejad's visit, and that Israel is engaged in military, diplomatic and public-relations preparations in the days preceding it.



Last week Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman raised the issue in his meeting with Ban at UN Headquarters in New York. Lieberman said his government is "extremely worried" about the Iranian president's visit.

Sources in Jerusalem added that even before Israel asked Lebanon to reconsider Ahmadinejad's stop in the country's south, senior U.S. and French officials had already done the same independently. American officials reportedly did so immediately following the Iranian president's speech at the UN General Assembly last month blaming the U.S. government for the September 11 attacks.

"They told the Lebanese that it wouldn't be wise to facilitate Ahmadinejad's visit to the border," a high-ranking Israeli official said on condition of anonymity due to subject's sensitive nature.

[link to www.haaretz.com]