BEIRUT, Lebanon - As Lebanon prepares to mark the second anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri on Wednesday, fears have increased among the Lebanese that the country might be headed towards a standoff between government supporters and the opposition that has been calling on the anti-Syrian cabinet to resign. Anti-Syrian political factions headed by majority parliament leader Saad Hariri, son of the late Hariri, have called on their followers to turn out in huge numbers to mark the second anniversary of the assassination on February 14 by demonstrating as they did on day the late premier was killed.

" I call on you to turn out like you did two years when my father was killed, but this time to say to the (Syrian) regime of (President) Bashar al-Assad that we want justice and we will not allow anyone to assassinate the international tribunal to try the suspects in the assassination of the late premier Rafik Hariri," Saad Hariri said in an address to his followers on the eve of his father's assassination.

Hariri was killed along with 20 other people on February 14, 2005 in a massive bomb blast in a seafront area of Beirut. An ongoing UN probe has so far implicated Lebanese and Syrian officers in his murder.

The UN Security Council has approved the formation of an international tribunal to try the suspects in the Hariri assassination, but Syria and its allies in the Lebanese opposition headed by Hezbollah have been accused by anti-Syrian political factions in Lebanon of trying to obstruct the tribunal in order to protect Damascus.

Hariri's widow, Nazek, appealed for a national unity to mark her husband's death in a letter addressed to Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

"I appeal to you for us all to gather around the grave to make of this sad day a demonstration of love and unity, and to give back the Lebanese the hope of a better future," she wrote in the letter published in all Lebanese newspapers.

But the appeal seemed to have passed unnoticed by the opposition who have been camping out since December 1 in front of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora's offices in downtown Beirut. Their camps are just a few metres from Hariri's grave and from where the anniversary is to be held on Wednesday.

"No matter what they say or appeal, we are staying until our demands are met," said an opposition follower in the camp in downtown Beirut.

The opposition is demanding that the anti-Syrian cabinet resign after six pro-Syrian ministers submitted their resignations last November to pave the way for the establishment of a national unity government.

The opposition's demand was rejected and Seniora's government announced it is staying in office "no matter what the consequences are."

"I hope the anniversary on Wednesday will pass without a standoff or blood, as the opposing factions will only be few metres away," said Nayla Baz, a follower of the anti-Syrian government who was helping to decorate the area near Hariri's grave at Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut.

Blue ribbons, representing Hariri's Future Current Movement and Lebanese flags were erected in the area of the Mosque of Mohammed al- Amin, where Hariri and six of his bodyguards are buried.

Lebanese army troops have recently erected a fence cutting the square in half, in an apparent move to prevent any friction between pro-government supporters and those of the Syrian-backed opposition's camp of white tents a few metres away.

On January 23 and 25, street riots between the groups in Beirut left six people dead and more than 200 wounded.

The anti-Syrian government has declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.

"Public institutions will take a day off on Wednesday to mark the martyrdom of Rafik Hariri and his companions," a government statement said.

But many Lebanese fear that the day will end up "bloody" and that Valentine's Day 2007 will mark another dark point in Lebanon's future.

"I hope the day will pass peacefully and people from both sides will think that Hariri was a man of peace and will observe the day in mourning peacefully," said Haifa Zeineddine.

Hariri's assassination has plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war and has frozen relations with Lebanon's former powerbroker, Syria.

Syria was pushed to withdraw its troops from Lebanon on April 26, 2005 following 30 years of military presence after domestic and international protests triggered by Hariri's assassination.

The Lebanese anti-Syrian majority and Hariri's have openly accused Syria of killing him and other anti-Syrian officials who were killed in the country after Hariri's death.

The Arab League has been mediating to solve the Lebanese crisis between the anti-Syrian and pro-Syrian followers, which has also ignited deep fears that a second civil war is looming in Lebanon's future.

The league is also trying to mend relations between the two neighbouring countries to ease the tension.

So far the Arab League efforts have been unsuccessful. Political observers in the country feel the crisis will not be solved "internally but externally."

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has been mediating with Shiite Muslim Iran, Hezbollah's supporter and Syria's main ally, to try to find a solution to the crisis, amid fears that the political situation in the country might turn into a Shiite-Sunni civil war like the one feared to be developing in Iraq.

"As long as the Syrian regime is obstructing all mediation and the formation of the court there will no solution," said anti-Syrian Druze Walid Jumblatt. "When this regime is changed we will have peace."

Syria has repeatedly denied any involvement in Hariri's assassination but UN investigation reports handed to the UN Security Council have clearly cited Syrian involvement in the death of the five-time Sunni premier. -DPA