Damage in Harasta area of Damascus this week
Damage in Harasta area of Damascus this weekReuters

The second-in-command to Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has been injured -- and may have been killed -- in an attack on a convoy by Syrian opposition forces.

Naim Qassem, deputy to Nasrallah, was wounded Tuesday in the blast along with several high-ranking Syrian officers, according to the Lebanon-based al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

The paper, affiliated with the anti-Hizbullah movement, quoted sources linked to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as saying the explosion struck the convoy as it was traveling along the outskirts of Damascus.

According to the report, the convoy was coming from Lebanon following a meeting with senior Syrian officials.

No one in the convoy survived the blast, the rebels claimed, adding they had laid mines along the Damascus-Beirut Highway on the Syrian-Lebanese border.  

The report has not been confirmed by any other source.

Earlier in the week, Lebanese sources said Hizbullah secretary-general Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has been flown to Tehran where he is allegedly receiving treatment for cancer. The Hizbullah chief was reportedly diagnosed with the illness a few days earlier, and admitted to a private hospital in Beirut prior to being flown to Iran, according to numerous reports in Lebanon and Turkey.

Hizbullah officials have denied the reports, and said Nasrallah would appear on television to address his followers sometime on Wednesday. He was last seen delivering an address via video hookup from his hideout about ten days ago.