**A Syrian government official had recently threatened the opposition 2 weeks ago as the 2nd article shows.
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**.**BEIRUT, Lebanon – An apparent large-scale bomb attack has rocked downtown Beirut, causing several deaths and widespread destruction.
Lebanese state radio reported that the explosion hit the motorcade of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and may have killed his chief bodyguard.
Local reports indicated at least eight people were killed.
The private Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation said Hariri was taken to a hospital.
Hariri, a billionaire businessman who resigned from government last October, recently joined calls by the opposition for Syria to quit Lebanon in the run-up to general elections in May, Reuters reported.
At least six fires were burning in the immediate aftermath of the blast, which took place at shortly after 1 p.m. (6 a.m. ET).
The powerful blast took place in front of the five-star St. George Hotel in the Lebanese capital’s famed Cornische overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
The city’s fashionable seafront was strewn with rubble and burning vehicles, and the streets were littered with glass and twisted metal.
“I haven’t seen anything on this scale in Beirut since the dark days of the civil war,” said CNN’s Brent Sadler from the scene.
Bystanders and emergency officials rushed to aid the injured, including one man who climbed from a car window on fire.
A bystander used his jacket to put out the man’s flames, AP said.
A plume of black smoke rose over the downtown. The explosion occurred near the city’s waterfront shortly before noon (1000 GMT) and shook buildings in the city center.
Windows were smashed out of buildings in the city’s financial center about a mile away, Sadler said.
The explosion was heard as far away as the eastern hills overlooking the city, AP said.
The blast blew off the facade of at least one large building, covering cars, sidewalks and the street with rubble.
Heavily armed security forces cordoned off the area with yellow tape as rescue workers and investigators combed the scene apparently looking for casualties or clues to what caused the huge explosion, AP said.
Explosions in Beirut, once common during the 1975-90 civil war, have become rare since the conflict ended.
However, in October a car bomb seriously injured an opposition politician and killed his driver in Beirut amid rising tension between the opposition and the government, AP reported.
even more democracy in the Middle East !!! ), it’s definitely time for the Syrian fascists to kill a bunch of innocents to dissuade them from voting the wrong way. But that’s OK because the occupiers aren’t named John or Joe or Mary, they don’t salute the stars and stripes and every once in a while they can be heard to praise Allah.