Large explosion reported in Hezbollah storage site in south Lebanon, cause unknown

Local media reports no casualties, while news outlets linked to terror group ignore incident; last month, 12 people were killed in a blast at a local Hamas weapons depot

A large explosion rocked southern Lebanon early Thursday morning, local Lebanese media reported, adding that there were no casualties.

The cause of the blast, between the villages of Deir a-Zahrani and Khomin a-Fuqa, was not immediately clear.

Videos posted to social media showed a huge fireball rising into the night sky. The area is a stronghold of the Hezbollah terror group.

Al-Arabiya reported that the area where the explosion took place isn’t populated and that it is used to store Hezbollah weapons.

Local media said Hezbollah activists were preventing reporters from accessing the areas.

Hezbollah-linked news outlets have been ignoring the incident.

כלי תקשורת בלבנון דיווחו על פיצוץ שנשמע בדרום המדינה בין הכפרים דיר א-זהראני לחומין א-פוקא. נסיבות הפיצוץ אינן ידועות. בסרטון: תיעוד שפורסם ברשתות החברתיות בלבנון@kaisos1987 pic.twitter.com/9JkUNtFeSe

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 13, 2022

In December, some 12 people were reportedly killed when a weapons cache belonging to the Palestinian terror group Hamas exploded in the Burj al-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Iranian and Iran-allied targets in neighboring Syria, including against Hezbollah. However, strikes against Hezbollah inside Lebanon are exceedingly rare.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of storing vast amounts of arms and ammunition among the civilian population of southern Lebanon.