Iran warns Israel against extending conflict

Activists of Pakistan's six-party Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) carry placards and shout slogans in Islamabad yesterday during a protest against the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and Palestine. Pakistan has strongly condemned the Israeli bombardment of Beirut airport describing the attack as a "dangerous escalation. PHOTO: AFP

"Thanks be to God, despite its criminal and savage nature, the Zionist regime and its supporters in the West do not have the power to look in the same way towards Iran," the ultra-conservative president said in a speech in the provinces.

He was speaking as Israel continued its offensive in Lebanon sparked by the capture Wednesday by Iran- and Syria-backed Hezbollah militiamen of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight others.

"Attacks by the Zionist regime against its neighbours, notably Lebanon, Syria, and its threats against other countries in the region are due to the fact that this puppet regime cannot live normally," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"This situation cannot last, and one day the protectors of the Zionist regime -- the US in particular -- will have to explain themselves and be judged by the conscience of humanity," he added.

His comments came after he warned Israel against conducting any attack against Syria -- the Islamic republic's only ally in the region.

"If Israel commits another act of idiocy and aggresses Syria, this will be the same as an aggression against the entire Islamic world and it will receive a stinging response," he said in a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

"The Israeli aggressions are a result of the weakness of a puppet regime that is on its way towards disappearing," state television quoted him as saying.

The hardline president, famed for calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map", also said the "Zionists and their protectors are the people held in most contempt by humanity" and promised their "rapid downfall".