CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has followed current events in Lebanon with interest and hopes the situation stabilises as soon as possible, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

       Tension over an investigation into a massive blast last year in Beirut developed into the worst street violence in more than a decade on Thursday, with six Shi'ites shot dead and gun battles reviving memories of the country's 1975-90 civil war.

       (Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Christopher Cushing)