Car Explodes Near Lebanese Hezbollah Camp in What Could Be More Spillover from Syria Conflict

In what may be more evidence of the Syrian civil war spilling across the border, a car bomb exploded Tuesday morning in an area controlled by Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, killing the driver and wounding two.

Hezbollah Flag (Source: AP)

Initial reports conflicted, with Reuters quoting Lebanese security sources who said that two members of Hezbollah were wounded as they were in their van chasing the vehicle which exploded. This as the Associated Press quoted Lebanon’s National News Agency which reported that the vehicle was "intercepted" at a Hezbollah checkpoint. After guards fired on it, the car exploded according to that report.

Lebanon’s Daily Star wrote that the car was most likely detonated remotely near Sbouba some 13 miles from the border with Syria where the Shi’ite terrorist group has a military camp.

Reuters reported that Hezbollah officials became aware of the suspicious vehicle around 3 a.m.

“Footage broadcast by Hezbollah's Al Manar television showed at least two damaged vehicles, one of them overturned, and several piles of blackened, twisted metal scattered over a muddy and partially snow-covered plain,” Reuters reported.

Al Manar reported that the car was carrying about 110 pounds of explosives.

Sunni leaders have voiced criticism of Hezbollah for militarily supporting embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in the hostilities which have been underway for two-and-a-half years. Hezbollah - along with its Iranian backers - has been targeted a number of times within Lebanese borders for sending thousands of its fighters to bolster Syrian government forces.

A double suicide bombing killed more than 20 near the Iranian embassy in Beirut last month, and on December 4, senior Hezbollah commander Hassan al-Laqees was gunned down in the garage of his building in southern Beirut.

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