A massive car bomb in Beirut has killed at least eight people and injured about 80 others injured after an explosion ripped through a neighborhood in the Lebanese capital.

The bomb exploded Friday near the office of the Christian Phalange Party headquarters. The group openly disapproves of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The blast damaged residential buildings in east Beirut's mainly Christian district of Achrafieh. Rescue workers on the scene rushed to help evacuate the wounded.

The bombing comes at a time of escalating tensions in Lebanon as a result of the conflict in Syria.

Lebanon has seen a recent increase in violence related to the bloody Syrian civil war that has spilled over the border.