Hezbollah says Bush visit marks black day

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of Hezbollah said on Wednesday U.S. President George Bush's visit to the Middle East marked a black day in the history of Arabs and Muslims.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Bush, who arrived in Israel at the start of a regional tour, was deceiving Arabs by trying to depict Iran, not Israel, as their enemy.

"We must record that today is a black day in the history of the Arab region and in the history of our Arab and Muslim nation," Nasrallah told a Shi'ite Muslim religious gathering to the chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, is a sworn enemy of Israel and is on Washington's terrorist list. It fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 and backs militant Palestinian groups.

Bush is in the region to push Israeli-Palestinian peace and to discuss Iran's nuclear program.

"Bush comes to the region practicing the largest deception operation in history by saying that he is coming to protect Arabs and especially Gulf states from Iran," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah criticized Bush for expressing his full support of Israel. "Bush the deceiver does not protect Arabs from the real, daily murderer while he claims he wants to protect them from an presumed enemy."

(Writing by Nadim Ladki)