JERUSALEM - US President George W. Bush on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Lebanon's elected government against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia and for Israel against the Hamas movement.

"Hezbollah, the so-called protector of the Lebanese against Israel has now turned on its own people," Bush said in Jerusalem after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"Hezbollah is supported by Iran, and it's an Iranian effort to destablise Lebanon's democracy, and the United States stands strongly with the Siniora government," he said, referring to Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.

Bush also reaffirmed his support for Israel in its conflict with the Islamist Hamas movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip in June, casting both conflicts as pitting democracies against "terrorists".

Noting that Hamas was pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state, Bush told Olmert "we'll stand strongly with Israel as well as stand strongly with the Palestinians who don't share their vision," Bush said.

Shortly after the two leaders met, a rocket slammed into an Israeli shopping mall in the seaside town of Ashkelon north of Gaza, wounding at least 14 people, three of them seriously, including a little girl.

In the nearly one year since Hamas took over, Palestinian militants have fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli communities near the border, as Israeli leaders have mulled a wider operation against the isolated territory.

Since November, Olmert has been holding peace talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, with the two sides having committed themselves to trying to strike a deal by the time Bush leaves office in January 2009.

Bush arrived in Israel on Wednesday at the start of a five-day tour of the region anchored on Israel's 60th anniversary that will also take him to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. -AFP