Large blast hits suspected Hezbollah site in south Lebanon

A large explosion rocked a village in south Lebanon on Tuesday, with local media reporting that it had occured in a house belonging to Hezbollah.

A security source told Reuters that an arms depot belonging to the armed Shia movement had blown up because of a technical error.

Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed said the Shia movement had imposed a security cordon around the site.

A number of people were injured in the blast in Ain Qana, local residents told Lebanese media.

A witness in a nearby village told Reuters that they felt the ground shake, while video clips circulation online showed clouds of dark smoke rising from the area.

The National News Agency reported that the blast had coincided with a number of fly-overs by Israeli fighter jets and drones.

The images of the smoke rising being circulated on social and broadcast media is likely to provoke anxiety for a many Lebanese, who are still recovering from an August explosion in the port of Beirut that devastated surrounding areas.

There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah. However, an unnamed source in the organisation told the Annahar newspaper that the weapons had been leftovers from the 2006 conflict with Israel.

The blast stirs new worries in Lebanon, a nation grappling with its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war and still reeling from the 4 August blast that killed at least 190 people and injured thousands.