insert an image container before text in a li element.

insert an image container before text in a li element.

I'm trying to bend my mind to insert a <div class="image_container"/> before the text in an list element

<li>text1</li>
<li>text2</li>
<li>text3</li>

should become:

<li><div class="image_container"></div>text1</li>
<li><div class="image_container"></div>text2</li>
<li><div class="image_container"></div>text3</li>

I'm quite sure it's very simple but I'm struggling now for a few hours without result.
$('li', this).before('<div class="image_container"></div>')
makes <div class="image_container"></div><li>text1</li>

I tried other things, but I think I'm overlooking an obvious command.