Explosion rocks central Beirut

Explosion rocks central Beirut

www.reuters.com

An explosion rocked central Beirut during rush hour on Friday, witnesses said.

The cause was not immediately clear. Ambulances rushed to the scene in the Ashafriyeh district, a mostly Christian area.

Smoke was seen rising from the area of the blast, which occurred at a time of heightened tension between Lebanese political factions on opposite sides of the Syria conflict.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is only breaking in the last 5 minutes. early reports of massive explosion in sissane square in beirut, lebanan.

news is now breaking on cnn, reuters, etc.

twitter is going crazy with comments.

no early reports of any idea who is responsible. will post more news as it becomes available.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

live pics on cnn.

early reports that its a car bomb.

scenes of utter chaos

Its getting closer

stars and flags

The middle east is becoming more and more unstable, I fear that incidents like this will increase in frequency as tensions continue to rise between the big political players.


It could be that the warlords may be coming out of the woodworks to settle some old debts or make a power grabs during this tenable situation.

THanks for the update.

twitter.com...


this is the only image i can find so far.

www.beirut.com...



more pictures starting to come in now. if you have family in lebanon...reports are that its very hard to get a call out due to overloaded phone lines.

also a call has gone out for blood donations of all types.


some pics i wont post as they show people with horrific injuries.

Images + Video

Large blast rocks Beirut, casualties reported

A car bomb has shaken the Lebanese capital of Beirut, with plumes of black smoke seen rising from the eastern part of the city. The Lebanese National News agency has reported several killed and more injuries.
The blast rocked the city’s Ashrafieh neighborhood during rush hour Friday, the Lebanese Daily Star reports.
At least seven cars were set on fire during the blast, an MTV correspondent on the ground reported. Considerable damage to the surrounding buildings has also been reported, and ambulances dispatched to the scene were taking the wounded to hospital.
Human body parts were seen scattered on the roads.
The explosion reportedly occurred 200 meters from a local Kataeb political headquarters, better known in English as the Phalanges Party.

thanks for posting i cant find this anywhere else yet

8 dead, 78 injured so far. death toll expected to be much higher.

just a personal feeling...but something this organized and the sheer size leads me to worry about a follow up bomb. many rushing into the area including media. i hope im wrong.

Yeah this happened at a time when students leave school at 3:00, there is always a lot of traffic at that time , and Ashrafiye is a christian area. One car bomb, and 7 other cars exploded. 8 dead< 78 wounded and still counting.

I am a Canadian living here for 4 years now. Have seen shootings on news but never bombs, those happened before I came to work here.

Everybody has an idea who it was but no one would say it out loud.
All my friends are watching the news and translating for me .

I hope this was the end of it and nothing else will follow tonight or in the near future.


S&F for bellagirl for reporting this news so quickly, it just happened 1.5 hours ago.

The explosion occurred 200 meters from a local Kataeb political headquarters, better known in English as the Phalanges Party. The Phalanges are a right-wing Christian political-paramilitary organization which played a prominent role in the Lebanese Civil War.

I think it's pretty obvious what's going on, they want to split Lebanon the same way the did (or still try) in Syria. This is step one - creating an atmosphere of fear and mutual distrust. Step two would be wait for "an answer" or place a second bomb.

It smells like the work of Salafi, Mossad or the CIA, or one of their sponsored "freedom fighter groups", like for instance Al Kaida.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Here's a news link.

Just wanted to add, that people are scared and no one will leave their homes tonight. The central area of Beirut will look deserted tonight, prolly heavily guarded by military as it already is right now.

reply to post by Rainbowresidue


As I understand you are currently there. Can you tell us a little bit more about "the word on the street" (without putting yourself into danger, of course) ?

Well my friends and coworkers think it was a group that we have heard of before in the past many times, and like to do these things from time to time to get their point across.

I'm not into politics so wouldn't know the exact "why" because I really don't follow this country's political problems but here in Beirut people know which group it was. Word kind of rhymes with "Meazolla".

I don't wanna get into politics just wanted to share a little about what is going on here, and that people are worried and afraid this might not have been the last bomb.

Also interesting fact, yesterday was a "taxi strike", which happens from time to time here, because of high gas prices, but it really seems to be more than a coincidence.

America is not in Lebanon...... Can someone please explain why this is happening?
After being on ATS for years, I have been washed to only understand that this happens due to blow back.''

Just spoken to my daughter who lives there and she said the blast was in Achrafieh where she used to live.

This quote from her.

"Well Achrafieh is THE Christian neihbourhood in Beirut, so we think maybe someone is trying to start secretarian strife again"

She said the blast was near a church.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Says on here top security official hurt in Blast.

live.reuters.com...

Lebanon isn't only a muslim country. It has many religions, and its various sects.. I think 8 but don't quote me on that. There are muslim sunni, shia, roman catholics, orthodox catholics, druz, etc. From time to time there are clashes, protests, but a bombing like this hasn't happened in years.

Some groups are more aggressive than others in getting their point across.

Could have been an assassination.

Exclusive sources told LBCI that the explosion that rocked the Achrafieh area Friday afternoon targeted and killed ISF Information Branch General Wissam Hassan.

Wissam al-Hassan, who was in charge of a top intelligence unit, was the brain behind uncovering a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician.


www.lbcgroup.tv...

If that is the case then people will be blaming this guy.

en.wikipedia.org...


Wissam Hassan gave Assad hell regarding the investigation into the assassination of Rafic Harir

Anyone who thinks this ISN'T the work of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated terrorist groups has their head in the sand.

They targeted a CHRISTIAN community, just as they've been targeting CHRISTIANS in Syria.

They're bringing their war to Lebanon.