Visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday called on Damascus to help stabilize Lebanon, where an open-ended rally aiming to bring down the incumbent government enters the fourth day.

Steinmeier made the appeal at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Vice President Farouk al-Shara.

Steinmeier called on Syria to play a constructive role in Lebanon and to do everything, "directly or indirectly," in its power to prevent the destabilization of Lebanon.

He also called upon all parties to exert every effort to prevent increased violence in Lebanon, saying the situation there is "fragile."

For his part, Muallem said Syria would respond to the interests of its people while slamming what he called "efforts to isolate" his country.

"There are parties in the world who have isolated Syria but we want solid relations with every country in the world, especially Germany, based on common understanding and noninterference in ( each other's) internal affairs," Muallem said.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian protestors have gathered in downtown Beirut since Friday afternoon to attend the Hezbollah-led rally calling for resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.

The political rift deepened Monday after the killing of a pro- Syrian Shiite Muslim demonstrator which raised fears that anti- government protests could turn into sectarian violence.

Syria, a supporter of Hezbollah and a former power broker in Lebanon, was forced to withdraw its troops from its smaller neighbor, ending a 29-year military presence there, after former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February 2005.

A UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials in the murder, but Damascus denied any role of involvement.

Steinmeier arrived here earlier in the day for a brief visit on the last leg of his four-day Middle East tour, which had taken him to Amman, the West Bank, Gaza, Beirut, Cyprus, and Jerusalem.

Steinmeier is the first senior German official to visit Syria in more than two years. He cancelled a planned trip at the last minute in August after President Bashar al-Assad made a speech blaming the United States for trouble in the region.

Leading Western powers have sought to isolate Damascus over its alleged role in Hariri's murder, but the isolation eased this summer as the European is increasingly seeing Damascus as a key player to solutions of the complicated conflicts in the Middle East.

Source: Xinhua