Syria blamed for deadly Lebanon blast

Syria has been blamed for a car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent Lebanese security official and seven others.

Saturday's blast, the worst the Lebanese capital has seen in more than four years, wounded 86 people and was seen as a sign that Syria's civil war is spilling over the country's borders. Opposition leader Saad Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt both said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the bombing in Beirut. A Syrian minister condemned the blast.

Hariri's coalition called on the government to resign.

The Lebanese government said on Friday that an investigation has been launched into the assassination of Hassan.

Meanwhile, the 15-member UN Security Council, in a statement, called the attack a "heinous act" and appealed to the Lebanese people to "preserve national unity in the face of such attempts to undermine the country's stability".

The US described the bombing as a "terrorist attack".

Friday's blast left eight people dead and wounded dozens.

It occurred in the mainly Christian district of Ashrafiya, in a busy street close to the headquarters of Saad Hariri's 14 March coalition.

Internal intelligence head Wissam al-Hassan was among those who died. He was close to Hariri, a leading critic of the government in neighbouring Syria.

Hassan led an investigation that implicated Damascus in the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon.

Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those who support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - including many Shias - and those mostly from the Sunni community who back the rebels.

Hariri's 14 March bloc issued a statement accusing the Beirut government of protecting "criminals" and calling on it to stand down.

Anti-Syrian protesters burned tires during demonstrations in Beirut and Tripoli late on Friday.

The force of Friday's blast, the worst in the Lebanese capital for four years, ripped balconies from the fronts of buildings and set many cars on fire. For many, it evoked scenes from Lebanon's civil war in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government was trying to identify the perpetrators and they would be punished.

Lebanon's Shia militant group Hezbollah - a close ally of the Syrian government - condemned the bombing.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi called it a "cowardly, terrorist act". He said such incidents were "unjustifiable wherever they occur".