Hollande Urges Lebanese Officials to 'Protect Lebanon Unity' after al-Hasan Murder

French President François Hollande on Friday urged all Lebanese officials to protect Lebanon from "all attempts at destabilization," following the bloody car bombing that killed Intelligence Bureau chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district.

"The head of state calls on all Lebanese political officials to maintain Lebanon's unity and protect it from all attempts at destabilization, from wherever they come," Hollande said in a statement.

He said it "is a great loss" that Hasan was among those killed in the car bomb attack.

He paid tribute to "a man devoted to his country, its stability and its independence."

"France hopes that all light is cast on this terrorist act," he said, recalling his country's "commitment to Lebanon's security, stability, independence and sovereignty."

The powerful car bomb rocked a street adjacent to Sassine Square in Ashrafiyeh, leaving Hasan and seven other people dead and 78 people wounded, in the first such attack in the Lebanese capital since 2008.