A powerful explosion rocked a Hezbollah building on the outskirts of a village in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, causing thick billows of black smoke, corroborating sources told AFP.
A resident of the village of Ain Qana spoke of a house acting as a “Hezbollah center”, adding that members of the armed Shiite movement have cordoned off the area.
“The whole village was shaken,” he said, reporting property damage in the area of the explosion.
An AFP photographer also referred to a security cordon erected by members of Hezbollah.
According to “preliminary information” from a military source, it is a “Hezbollah site” where “ammunition was located”.
A source close to the pro-Iranian party spoke of an “accident” and told AFP that it was indeed “a Hezbollah site” but “not a warehouse” of party weapons.
According to the National Information Agency (ANI), the explosion, “for unknown causes, coincided with the overflight of enemy aircraft, which since this morning has not left the sky” of the region where is located. Ain Qana, in allusion to Israel.
Neither Hezbollah nor Israel, sworn enemies of the Shiite movement, have commented on the explosion.
In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s stronghold, limited clashes have pitted the Shiite movement against neighboring Israel on the border in recent months.
Heavyweight in political life, represented in the government and in the Libnese Parliament, Hezbollah is militarily engaged alongside Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the conflict in Syria, where it is regularly the target of Israeli strikes.