Hizbullah
HizbullahIsrael news photo: Flash 90

A huge explosion, apparently at a Hizbullah weapons depot, rocked Lebanon near the border Monday morning, the country’s state news agency reported.

Hizbullah immediately accused Israel of carrying out an aerial bombing.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is responsible for maintaining security in the area, and it is investigating the blast, but Hizbullah cordoned off the area to prevent their approach..

The explosion apparently was in an ammunition depot east of the port city of Tyre.

Black smoke was seen rising from the site, but no casualties were reported.

Similar explosions have occurred in the same area in the past two years. Hizbullah has denied that it stores weapons and ammunition in southern Lebanon, but Israel estimates that the terrorist organization not only stockpiles ammunition and guns but also has built up an arsenal of more than 60,000 missiles.

This is 5 times as many as the terrorists had at the end of the Second Lebanon War.

Hizbullah effectively controls southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement that concluded the Second Lebanon War six years ago.

The truce, agreed to by then-Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, prohibits a non-government military force from maintaining weapons.

Hizbullah never turned over its weapons and instead re-built its missile stockpile. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that Hizbullah has effectively become part of the army of Lebanon, whose majority government consists of a pro-Syria and Hizbullah coalition.