A car bomb exploded on Tuesday (July 9) in a Beirut stronghold district of the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group that has been fighting in Syria's civil war, wounding at least 38 people.

Reports that one employee had been killed in the parking lot where the explosion occurred in Beirut's southern suburbs could not be confirmed by hospital officials.

Sectarian tensions in Lebanon have been high following the intervention of the Shi'ite Hezbollah in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces fighting a two-year revolt led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority.

Syria's conflagration has polarised Lebanon, still healing from a civil war of its own which divided the country along sectarian lines of the kind now plaguing Syria.

Lebanon's Sunni Muslims mostly support the rebels in Syria, while Shi'ites have largely supported Assad, who is part of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Sunni Muslim militant groups have threatened to attack against Hezbollah following its military intervention in Syria.

Presented by Adam Justice

Read more: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/beirut-bomb-lebanon-hezbollah-syria-488004