10 killed as powerful blast hits Hezbollah Beirut stronghold

PanARMENIAN.Net - A powerful explosion struck the southern Beirut stronghold of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group on Thursday, August 15 killing 10 people, wounding 120 and trapping many others inside damaged buildings, witnesses and emergency officials said, according to Reuters.

The blast, a month after a car bomb wounded more than 50 people in the same district of the Lebanese capital, came amid sectarian tensions over the intervention of Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah against Sunni rebels in Syria's civil war.

Residents of southern Beirut say Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, was on high alert and stepped up security in the area after warnings from Syria rebels of possible retaliation for the group's support for President Bashar al-Assad.

It was not immediately known whether the explosion targeted any Hezbollah figure but it took place in a crowded residential area.

A spokesman for Lebanon's Red Cross said 10 people were killed and another 120 were wounded.