ME leaders fear for Lebanon's stability after Hariri killing

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condemned the assassination as a "terrible criminal act" and voiced concern about the repercussions for the neighbouring country in which Damascus retains 14,000 troops from a deployment first launched in 1976.

"The Syrian government and people stand alongside brotherly Lebanon in this dangerous situation and convey our sincerest condolences to the family of Mr Hariri and the families of the other victims," the official news agency SANA said.

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The Syrian president called for the Lebanese people to stand united following the attack, in which another nine people, including at least one of Hariri's bodyguards, also lost their lives.

Assad urged them "to reinforce their national unity and reject all those who aim to cause trouble and sow division among the people," SANA said.

Syria's main regional ally Iran also expressed concern about the fallout of what it condemned as a "terrorist act".

"We urge the people and government of Lebanon to be vigilant in the face of the plots of their enemies and to maintain the security and stability of their country," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the student news agency ISNA.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said he was deeply concerned about the implications for Lebanon, whose emergence from the devastation of 15 years of civil war was largely led by Hariri.

"The probabilities are serious and we beseech God to save Lebanon from this dangerous terrorist act and its repercussions," Mussa said.

"I hope that we will all contribute to maintaining peace and security in Lebanon," he said. "The evidence is very serious and will have a significant fallout ... Those who killed Hariri have done a very grave wrong to us all."

The Palestinian Authority also voiced concern for the stability of Lebanon, a country which hosts some 300,000 refugees.

"It is a crime against the Lebanese people and a blow to the stability of Lebanon, a country for whom we have a lot of time and respect," Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.

The former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was based in Beirut in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the Palestinians played a prominent role in the country's civil war.