DAMASCUS --Syria's state-run newspapers Thursday criticized the U.N. Security Council's resolution to unilaterally establish an international tribunal in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, calling it an American-Israeli decision aimed at exacting revenge on Syria.

A U.N. investigation has suggested Syrian involvement in the February 2005 assassination that occurred while the country's troops controlled Lebanon. But Syria has denied this, and President Bashar Assad has threatened not to cooperate with the court if it infringes on Syrian national sovereignty.

The Security Council voted Wednesday on the resolution 10-0, with five abstentions - Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar. The five countries that abstained objected to establishing the tribunal without approval of Lebanon's parliament and to putting the resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which deals with threats to international peace and allows military enforcement.

The resolution, said Tishrin government newspaper in an editorial Thursday, is "absolutely an American-Israeli one and could never be regarded as an expression of the international will."

Tishrin, which speaks for the government like all state-run media in Syria, called the resolution, bypassing Lebanon's parliament, unprecedented and warned of its "dangerous consequences" on national unity in Lebanon.

The issue of the tribunal has sharply polarized Lebanon. It is at the core of a deep political crisis between the Western-backed government and the Syrian- backed opposition led by Hezbollah.

Lebanese reaction to Hariri's killing was so fierce that Syrian troops were forced to withdraw from the country two months later. The tensions have taken on an increasingly sectarian tone since then and have erupted into street battles in recent months, killing 11 people.

Current Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora asked the Security Council earlier this month to establish the tribunal. He cited the refusal of opposition-aligned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to convene a session to ratify statutes to create the tribunal, already approved by his government and the U.N.

Tishrin said the resolution, sponsored by the U.S. and other countries, was " political vengeance" and shows U.S. bias. The U.S. recalled its ambassador from Syria in protest after the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others. Washington is also at odds with Damascus over the suspected flow of Islamic militants over Syria's border into Iraq.

Al-Thawra government newspaper also hit the theme of U.S. interference, saying the resolution was an attempt to meddle in Lebanese affairs by politicizing the Hariri assassination case.

The newspaper criticism followed a statement late Wednesday from an official Syrian source, warning of the consequences for Lebanon.

"The formation of the international court under Chapter 7 is considered as a degradation of Lebanon's sovereignty that might lead to more deterioration of the situations on the Lebanese field," the official was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency SANA.

SANA also reported the official announcing "no change in the Syrian stance" over the tribunal.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari also criticized the resolution Wednesday.

"Definitely this is something that goes against the interests of the Lebanese people and Lebanon as a whole," he told reporters after the vote. -AP