Beirut Bombing Heightens Fears of Syrian Violence Boiling Over

Security official killed had connections to anti-Syrian government forces

A top Lebanese security official allied to the country's anti-Syrian factions was killed in a massive car bombing in a densely populated neighborhood of Beirut on Friday, bringing the violence threatening to engulf the region to the heart of Lebanon's capital after several years of relative calm.

Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, who headed the Information Department of the Internal Security Forces, was among at least eight people who died in the mid-afternoon bombing in a quiet side street near Sassine Square, in the city's mostly Christian Ashrafiyeh area.