The Syrian flag. (Creative Commons)

The violence is has been blamed on the Syrian government, and is believed to have targeted Senior Security Chief Gen. Wissam al-Hassan specifically.

As children were released from school Thursday afternoon, a car packed with more than 60 pounds of explosives detonated. The shock tore through the predominately Christian section of Beirut, dismantling buildings, setting fires and burying the streets - and possibly people - in debris.

Gen. Hassan was the intelligence chief at Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces and an open ally to the anti-Assad political movement. Four hours after the bombing, Gen. Hassan was declared dead.

In August, Gen. Hassan led an investigation into a pro-Assad Lebanese politician Michel Samaha who was arrested for conspiring with Syrian regime security officials to organize a bombing campaign. After Samaha’s arrest, Gen. Hassan received threats; he had just returned from moving his family to Paris a day before the bombing.

Mounting fear has spread across Lebanon in the aftermath of the bombing, bringing back memories of the country’s 1975-1991 civil war. 

“There’s always a danger,” Parliament member Mouen al-Mourabi told the New York Times. “They’re trying to drag Lebanon toward this.”

Although the Syrian government has publicly denied involvement, there are a number of voices accusing Syria, and President al-Assad specifically, for the attack and Gen. Hassan’s death.

"This is now revenge against a man who confronted the Syrians and revenge against a district, a Christian district in the heart of Beirut. Regional powers are fighting in Syria and now also want to fight in Lebanon," Khattar Abou Diab, a Middle East expert at the University of Paris, told the Telegraph.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt both spoke out against Syria on Lebanese television. "We accuse Bashar al-Assad of the assassination of Wissam al-Hassam, the guarantor of the security of the Lebanese," Hariri said.

"I openly accuse Bashar al-Assad and his regime of killing Wissam al-Hassan,” Jumblatt said.

One member of Parliament told the New York Times that no one other than the Syrian government could have pulled off such a massive attack.

“It is clear that the Syrian regime is responsible for such an explosion,” said Nadim Gemayel,senior member of the Phalange Party. “It is such a big explosion that only the Syrian regime could have planned it."

At the scene of the Beirut bombing, former Lebanese lawmaker Elias Atallah publicly decried Assad. "This is the gift of Bashar al-Assad and his devils," he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Not long after the blast, Sunni protestors took to the streets, setting tires alight throughout the capital and blocking roads to the airport.

International officials have encouraged the Lebanese to stay calm. French President Francois Hollande released a statement, the Telegraph reported.

"The head of state calls on all Lebanese politicians to maintain unity in Lebanon and protect it from all destabilization efforts no matter where they come from."

The official number of wounded and the identities of the other victims have not yet been reported.

Reach staff reporter Karla Robinson here.