BEIRUT: Residents in the northern Lebanon province of Akkar woke up Tuesday morning to an odious smell.

The state-run National News Agency said many Akkar residents – mainly from the border areas of Wadi Khaled, Qobayat and Al-Kabir River – have complained about the stench since early this morning.

Akkar MP Moeen Merhebi said that the smell originates in Syrian territory.

“The source of the odor is Syria. It is caused either by an oil pipeline [leak] from Homs, or the Syrian regime's detonation of a chemicals factory that is now emitting toxic substances that produce these odors,” Merhebi told a local radio station.