Lebanon is preparing a hero's welcome for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is due to visit the country next week.

In the capital, Beirut, flags and banners will adorn his route from the airport to the city centre.

The hardline leader's larger-than-life portraits can also be found in southern Lebanon, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed militant Shia movement Hezbollah.

In Maroun al-Ras village, on the tense Israel-Lebanon border, Mr Ahmadinejad is due to inaugurate an Iranian-funded tourist park, Iran Garden, which includes a reproduction of Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, topped with an Iranian flag.

Work has been ongoing for months at the site, which will reportedly include a lookout point from which Mr Ahmadinejad plans to throw a symbolic stone at his arch enemy, Israel.

But not everyone in Lebanon is excited about the visit, especially in the Sunni-dominated northern areas, where posters appeared briefly saying: "Velayat-e Fakih [Rule of the clergy] is not welcome in Lebanon".