Syria seen as instigator

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From combined dispatches

BEIRUT -- Lebanon's dominant coalition accused Syria yesterday of deliberately fomenting violent protests over cartoons about the Islamic prophet Muhammad, while the United States urged its Arab allies to help quell the spreading anger.

Syrian leaders held meetings, meanwhile, with Muqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Iraqi cleric who has been organizing protests over the drawings in his country.

In Iran, hundreds of protesters hurled stones and firebombs at the Danish Embassy in Tehran. Hours earlier, about 200 student demonstrators threw stones at the Austrian Embassy, breaking windows and starting small fires.

In Afghanistan, troops fatally shot four protesters, some as they tried to storm a U.S. military base outside Bagram -- marking the first time a protest over the issue has targeted the United States.

Largely peaceful protests were reported throughout other parts of Asia, while a teenage boy was killed when protesters stampeded in Somalia.

The Bush administration urged Saudi Arabia to show leadership in calming the anger over the cartoons, which were first published in a Danish newspaper in September, but it also criticized cartoons and articles in the Arab world that attack Christians and Jews.

"Certainly the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that [leadership] role," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "There are others in the region who also might fulfill that role as well."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan urged "all governments to take steps to lower tensions and prevent violence."

In Beirut, the anti-Syrian coalition that dominates the Lebanese government apologized to Denmark for the burning of its consulate on Sunday, while charging that Syrian intelligence agents had sparked the trouble to destabilize their country.