BEIRUT: A powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militant commander has visited the Lebanon-Israel border expressing support for the Lebanese and Palestinians against the Jewish state and sparking harsh criticism from Lebanon`s prime minister who ordered him banned from entering the country.

Qais al-Khazali is commander of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, a group that staged spectacular attacks against US troops before their withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. He appeared in military uniform in a video whiletouring the border with Israel along with members of Lebanon`s militant Hezbollah group.

`We declare our full readiness to stand with the Lebanese people and the Palestinian cause against the unjust Israeli occupation that is hostile to Islam, Arabs and humanity,` he said.

The visit could be seen as a message to Israel that a possible war with Hezbollah in the future would bring into the country Iran-backed fighters from around the region at a time when Iranian-backed groups have a major presencein Syria and Iraq.The video was aired by Asaib Ahl al-Haq al-Ahd TV station Thursday night showing al-Khazall along with several other people in military uniforms as they showed him around areas overlooking Israeli towns and villages. One of those guiding al-Khazali points to a mountainous region in a distance and tells him `this is Golan` in reference to Syria`s Golan Heights that were captured by Israel during the 1967 Mideast war.

Al-Khazali is later seen standing next to a wall on the border near the Fatima Gate in the Lebanese border village of Kfar Kila.-AP