Hezbollah's deputy secretary-general, Naim Kassim. Photo: Wikipedia

The Free Syria Army released a statement Wednesday claiming Hezbollah’s second in command, Naim Kassim, has been injured in a convoy explosion together with high ranking Syrian officers. The statement was quoted by the Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, affiliated with the anti-Hezbollah camp, and was not confirmed by other sources.

The rebels said the attack on a Hezbollah convoy on the outskirts of Damascus Tuesday also left a senior Hezbollah military commander injured. Elaborating on the attack, the rebels claimed they laid mines on the Damascus-Beirut highway, on the Syria-Lebanon border. The convoy, they said, was en route to Syria following a meeting in Lebanon in the presence of the Syrian officers.

Tuesday, reports surfaced that Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was ailing and had been flown to Iran to be treated for cancer, and rumors circulated online that he had even died. Hezbollah denied both versions and al-Manar TV station, which is based in Lebanon and affiliated with the Shiite terror organization, announced Wednesday that Nasrallah would speak from an undisclosed location inside the country later Wednesday.