Lebanon suffers from spillover attacks in border region

The Lebanese army said Tuesday that a booby trapped car exploded on Tuesday in the East Bekaa region, leaving an unconfirmed number of casualties.

The Army Command Guidance Directorate said Tuesday that an explosion occurred on Sabouba-Nabi Moussa road at the vicinity of Mekkanna-Baalbeck village where an army patrol rushed to the scene.

According to the army, the explosion came from a booby-trapped 4x4 Cherokee Jeep, causing damage to other cars. Military experts and police are investigating the incident under the supervision of the concerned judiciary authorities.

The military expert conducting the investigations said that the bomb contained 50 kgs of explosives and was placed inside the Grand Jeep Cherokee, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Media reports said that Hezbollah members and civilians were wounded and that ambulances rushed to the scene to evacuate the injured.

Neighboring war-torn Syria, the Baalbeck region has been vulnerable to spillover attacks. The National News Agency reported that the Lebanese border region is witnessing a blowback of the violence with two rockets having reportedly hit the residential regions in the town of Hermel in Baalbeck Tuesday afternoon.

The Bekaa region is considered the heartland of Hezbollah, whom the Syrian rebels accuse of aligning with government forces in the Syrian conflict.

Rebel groups have threatened to target Hezbollah in Lebanon and several rockets have previously been fired on the Hermel town.

Two booby trapped cars exploded in the southern suburbs of Beirut during the summer leaving more than 50 killed and more than 350 injured.