Tourism leaders in Lebanon want to sue the producers of US drama 'Homeland' claiming the latest episode was full of 'lies' and wrongly depicts Beirut as harbouring terrorists.
Lebanese Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud is so upset about the show's 'damaging' portrayal of the city that he is consulting lawyers.
Abboud said the episode wrongly depicted the city as a strong-hold for terrorists and a place where foreigners can easily fall victim to random attacks.
However his comments have now been overshadowed by a car bomb which rocked the city this afternoon.
At least eight people have been k**led and an estimated 80 people wounded in the worst blast seen in the city for years.
The attack reportedly occurred as parents picked their children up from school.
Reporters at the scene described seeing bloodied victims being loaded in ambulances and heavy damage to residential buildings.
The motive for the car-bomb is not immediately clear.
However it comes at a time when Lebanon has seen a rise in tension and eruptions of clashes stemming from the civil war in neighboring Syria.
In scenes reminiscent of the dark days of Lebanon's civil war, ambulances ferried the wounded to several hospitals, where doctors, nurses and students waited for casualties at the doors - meanwhile the hospitals put out an appeal for blood donations.
An employee of a bank on the street pointed to the blown-out windows of his building.
'Some people were wounded from my bank. I think it was a car bomb. The whole car jumped five floors into the air,' he said.
