BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned Friday’s suicide bomb attack in Damascus and raised questions about what the timing and place of the attack indicated.

“We condemn all acts of terrorism. The Syrian revolution has pointed out the true objectives and the determined the culprit,” Hariri said during a question and answer session on Twitter Friday.

Syria’s state television said Friday a suicide bomber in Maidan district in Damascus killed 25 people and wounded 46 others. The interior minister Saturday revised the death toll to 26 and 63 wounded and vowed to the respond to the attack with an “iron fist.”

Some in the opposition have claimed that Damascus staged the attack, the third of its kind in two weeks, to show observers it is fighting blind violence rather that a pro-democracy movement.

Hariri also raised questions about the timing and place of the attack.

“What is noticeable about the explosion in Damascus is its timing – 24 hours before the Arab [League] committee meeting – as well as its location – Midan Square, which is a central spot of the popular movements in Damascus,” Hariri said, responding to a question as to whether he had seen footage of the scenes following the blast.

The Arab League is due to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss an initial report by Arab observers who are monitoring whether Syria is complying with an initiative to end the nearly 10 months unrest in the tightly controlled state.

Hezbollah, Syria’s ally in Lebanon, condemned the attack Friday, describing the suicide bombing in Damascus as part of a larger U.S. plan to destabilize the country while Lebanon’s foreign minister said the explosion was the beginning of further “terrorist operations” beyond Syria’s borders.

Asked his opinion on why Beirut had not sent officials to take part in the observer mission to Syria, Hariri, said: “The government of [Syrian President] Bashar Assad in Lebanon cannot take the decision to send observers to monitor the acts of the regime that appointed it in Damascus.”

Hariri, the leader of the March 14 movement, who left Lebanon months after his Cabinet collapsed following the resignation of Hezbollah-backed March 8 ministers from his national unity government in January 2011, said he was in Riyadh with his family and repeated that he would be returning to Lebanon soon.