Lebanon's president has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who called for a "salvation" caretaker government to take over after a political standoff with the Hezbollah movement.

His departure could plunge Lebanon, already struggling to cope with a spillover of violence and refugees from Syria's two-year-old civil war, into further turmoil and uncertainty three months before a planned parliamentary election. The resignation on Friday came after a two-day ministerial meeting remained deadlocked by a dispute with Shi'ite group Hezbollah.

■LEBANON