Beirut car bomb kills 11 at French Embassy

A car bomb exploded inside the French Embassy compound in Beirut Monday, killing 11 people and injuring 25.

The blast was the latest in a series of attacks on French targets in Lebanon which began with the killing of Ambassador Louis Delemare in September. In one incident, the French government expelled two Syrian diplomats after a bomb exploded outside the offices of an anti-Syrian Arab magazine in Paris. Syria denied any link with the bombing, responded by ordering out two French diplomats , and recalled its envoy from Paris.

The French government could have incurred the wrath of Syrians or other Arabs because of a policy seen in the Middle East as favorable to Israel, Western diplomats in Beirut said.