A car bomb exploded in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli this morning, slightly wounding Sheikh Saadeddine Ghiyeh, a pro-Assad figure in the area and in the country. The Lebanese army responded quickly to contain the scene, and issued a statement describing the explosive as having been placed under the car.

The bombing is one in a series of seemingly sectarian attacks that have hit Tripoli and deepened concerns that the Syrian war is spilling over into neighboring countries. In recent weeks security officials arrested two Lebanese clerics who have ties to Syria and who police blame for the deadly August 23 bombings outside two mosques that left at least 47 people dead. Judicial sources were expansive about what was found on the suspects:

Sheikh Ahmad Gharib, 40, was arrested by the police overnight in his residence in Minyeh, north of Tripoli. Arms, explosives and maps of the northern city were seized at his home, judicial sources said… Another suspect in the bombing, Sheikh Abdel Razzak Hammoud, was arrested around noon, the sources said. The sources said that both sheikhs are members of the Tripoli-based Islamic Tawheed Movement, a pro-Syrian regime group headed by Hashem Minkara.

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