IRNA - Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani in a message expressed condolences with Lebanese people on deadly explosion on Tuesday which claimed the lives of scores of people and injured thousands more.

In his Twitter message, Shamkhani consoled with Lebanese people, government and president over the sad occasion.

He sympathized with Lebanese people, saying we are standing by great and resistant people of Lebanon.

A massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut leaving a very high number of casualties.

A warehouse at the Beirut Port caught fire on Tuesday afternoon, triggering a huge explosion, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Several smaller explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred.

Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Security, said that “highly explosive materials” confiscated earlier had been stored at the site.

Footage shared on social media captured the moment of the bigger explosion, with a colossal shock wave seen traveling fast across several hundreds of meters and shrouding the area in thick smoke.

The blast left enormous material damage to the surrounding buildings and structures. But it was not immediately known how big an area was affected.

The accident has so far claimed at least 70 lives and injured over 3,000 people.