Mofaz climbed the military ranks to become army chief of staff in 1988 [EPA]

Best known for leading Israeli troops out of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, Shaul Mofaz, the current transport minister, is among the chief contenders to become Israel's next prime minister.

Mofaz was born in Tehran on November 4, 1948, and lived there until emigrating to Israel in 1957.

Joining the army just before the 1967 War, he climbed the ranks until appointed chief of staff in 1988 under Binyamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister and current head of the Likud party.

Two years later in 1990, Mofaz was entrusted by Ehud Barak, the then Labour prime minister, with the task of pulling Israeli forces out of south Lebanon after two decades of occupation.

He soon underlined his credentials in the early months of the intifada, or catastrophe, for his outspoken attacks on the Palestinian Authority, which he branded a "terrorist entity" in March 2001.

Mofaz led the army's invasion of the West Bank in the spring of 2001 and began a siege of Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian leader, in his West Bank compound.

Like Olmert and Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, Mofaz had long seemed at home in Netanyahu's Likud party, but like them was persuaded to move to the centrist Kadima by Ariel Sharon, the party's founder, in late 2005.

The decision allowed Mofaz to save his job as defence minister.

Mofaz's ambitions

Having entered the government only in October 2002, Mofaz won Sharon's gratitude and respect for steering through the withdrawal of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Olmert's successor will not necessarily become prime minister [EPA]

The move earned him and Sharon the enmity of many within Likud.

Mofaz is also noted for his hardline stance on the issue of his former homeland.

In June, he told an Israeli newspaper: "If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it".

Israel has long considered Iran its main strategic threat because of its accelerating nuclear programme, which Israel and the West believe is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Officials in Tehran, the Iranian capital, insist the programme is peaceful.

Mofaz's remarks were criticised by the Israeli defence ministry and the local media, but in retrospect may have been the first volley in a campaign that pits him against Livni, a former Mossad spy with a similar reputation for toughness.

Mofaz has been running neck and neck in opinion polls with Livni to replace Olmert as leader of the Kadima party.

The transport minister said that he would act to establish a broad national unity government if elected and believes he has a good chance of winning the vote.

"I hope that Kadima members will know to choose the right man to face the challenges and lead the state of Israel," Mofaz told Israel's Army Radio.

"They have been tasked with a grave responsibility - to choose Israel's next prime minister."

Mofaz will face a strong change from Livni in the primary [AFP]

Israeli law means the current government would be dissolved, and the new leader would have to form a coalition before taking over.

Kadima is currently in a coalition with the left-of-centre Labour party,.

Opinions differ on whether his successor could form a new government without the need for fresh elections.

Mofaz told The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli newspaper, recently that a broad coalition would circumvent the possibility of a general election which he said would be detrimental to Israel's current interests.

"The chances of a coalition being assembled are pretty good," he said.

"The members of the current coalition wish to preserve it, and I think that under my leadership more members will join. I wish to assemble a national unity government and a national emergency government; as broad as possible."

'Slowdown for Kadima'

Caleb Ben-David, a politician and journalist for The Jerusalem Post, told Al Jazeera that Livni "has been very supportive of the Palestinian peace process and has pushed the prime minister to move forward on the Syrian peace process so I think if she stepped into the position, you might even see it accelerate".

In December 2005, Mofaz left Likud to join Sharon's Kadima party [Gallo/Getty]

Ben-David said that although Livni is probably more popular with the general public, it might be harder for her to form a new government.

"A key member of the government is from a party called Shas, it's a religious Orthodox Jewish party, that is considered more hawkish and may have problems with a woman prime minister.

"Livni would be the first woman prime minister of Israel since Golda Meir three decades ago. It may be easier for Mofaz, even though he's less popular with the general public, to form a government," Ben-David said.