A bomb explosion kills eight people and injures 110 people in Beirut, Lebanon.
On 19 October 2012, Wissam al-Hassan, a brigadier general of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the head of its intelligence-oriented information branch, died along with several others killed by a car bomb in the Achrafieh district of Beirut. The killing of a senior figure closely linked with the anti-Assad camp in Lebanon led to immediate speculation that Syria, or its allies, were behind the attack in Beirut. Al-Hassan had also led the investigation that implicated Syria and its ally Hezbollah in the killing of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri.According to a report in Der Spiegel, Hezbollah might have had a hand in the attack on al-Hassan since his cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal had made him a sworn enemy of the Party. The FBI noted similarities with the Hariri assassination, between the explosives used, planning and execution of the attack, and that they point to the same group of perpetrators.According to Lebanon's National News Agency, a total of eight died and 110 were injured in the explosion, making it the deadliest bombing in Beirut since 2008.