Saad Hariri. Photo: Wikipedia.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri blamed Israel on Tuesday for the “terrorist explosion” that rocked a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, Lebanon’s Daily Star reported.

“[The blast] requires the highest level of awareness and vigilance in the face of dangers that surround the country and the entire region, especially while facing attempts by the Israeli enemy to push [Lebanon] to strife by organizing terrorist attacks, as happened today,” Hariri said in a statement.

A car bomb blast ripped through the southern Beirut suburb of Bir al-Abed, a Hezbollah stronghold, wounding dozens of people Tuesday morning.

Hariri added that the blast should shock Lebanese “to go back to the national consensus on keeping Lebanon away from external conflicts and to avoid slipping into wars that will only inflict further divisions in the country, place national stability at risk and expose Lebanon to the conspiracies of the Israeli enemy.”