BEIRUT: Lebanese political and religious figures condemned over the weekend Friday’s attack in Damascus that killed over 20 people and wounded over 60.

“This is a criminal and terrorist act that we deplore [in the strongest terms] regardless of the side that stood behind this crime and the [side] that planned and carried it out,” Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Saturday, adding that a unbiased probe was needed to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Syrian officials said Saturday that the attack in Midan Square in Damascus, which they say was carried out by a suicide bomber, claimed the lives of 26 people and wounded 63. The interior minister has vowed to respond to the attack with an “iron fist.”

“What our sister Syria is witnessing [saddens] our hearts and no one with a right mind would accept this,” Siniora, the head of Lebanon’s Future parliamentary bloc, said in a statement.

He said it was unfortunate that, and coinciding with the explosion, “the Syrian regime forces continue to kill innocent lives and unarmed, brave and free demonstrators in the streets of Syrian cities and towns, contrary to what the regime promised when it signed the Arab League imitative,” Siniora added.

In November, Damascus agreed to the Arab League initiative to end the crisis in the country, now nearing its eleventh month, but was suspended by the Arab League for not having implemented its key terms: the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the streets, the release of political prisoners, allowing in journalists and launching dialogue with the Syrian opposition.

In Late December, Syria signed a protocol to allow in Arab League observers to monitor the implementation of the initiative. The Arab organization is due to meet Sunday to discuss an initial report by the observers on Syria’s compliance.

“Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the Damascus explosion that we denounce ... the continuation of the killing of civilians and demonstrators by Syrian regime forces is something that we cannot be silent on,” Siniora said.

He urged the Syrian authorities to comply with the Arab League initiative in both word and deed in order to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, stressing that the only means of resolving the crisis in Syria was through comprehensive political change through democratic means and holding to account those who killed demonstrators and innocent civilians.

For his part, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, the deputy head of the Higher Shiite Council, said the “terrorist blast” should be seen within the context of attacks in Syria’s neighbor Iraq.

“[We denounce] the terrorist blast in Damascus that targeted innocent civilians in a barbaric act that is not linked to religion and which falls in the category of [transnational] terrorism from Iraq to strike at Syria’s security and stability,” Qabalan said in a statement.

“This barbaric act targets Syrian efforts to end the present crisis and as its leadership shows the responsiveness of the Syrian leadership with the Arab League initiative, which calls for deeper dialogue and discussion to end the crisis that is being fed by intelligence agencies seeking to drown Syria in chaos, strife and terrorism so that there can be no dialogue between the state and the opposition,” he added.

The United Nations estimates over 5,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, have been in the crackdown by Damascus since March 2011, when protesters, inspired by nascent revolts in other Arab states, called for major reforms and later the departure of President Bashar Assad from power.

Damascus denies targeting civilians and says it is facing a foreign-backed conspiracy aimed at toppling the Assad government.