"Today, we follow the will of the people in their demand to hold accountable those responsible for the disaster that has been in hiding for seven years, and their desire for real change," he said. "In the face of this reality ... I am announcing today the resignation of this government."
Lebanon's Government Is to Blame for the Beirut Explosion
INITIALLY:
Lebanon’s health minister told journalists a ship carrying fireworks had blown up in the port.
That would be the FIRST explosion, followed by the warehouse explosion where the ammonium nitrate had been improperly stored., the most devastating explosion of the two.
2,750 tons of the same substance used in America's Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.In that American blast, there were 'only' 13 barrels and each filled barrel weighed nearly 500 pounds (230 kg) of ammonium nitrate, a TOTAL of 6,500 pounds (2990 kg).
The amount of nitrate in the Beirut warehouse was about 5,500,000 pounds, 846 times greater than used in the Oklahoma explosion.
The Oklahoma blast, pictured above, destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage.
IN BEIRUT:
“Before the big explosion, you can see in the center of the fire, you can see sparks, you can hear sounds like popcorn and you can hear whistles. This is very specific behavior of fireworks, the visuals, the sounds and the transformation from a slow burn to a massive explosion.”
Jeffrey Lewis, a missile expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, offered a similar assessment.
“It looks like an accident,” Lewis told the AP. “First, there was a fire preceding the explosion, which is not an attack. And some of the videos show munitions what I could call popcorning, exploding like ’pop, pop, pop, pop.’”
“If you have a fire raging next to something explosive, and you don’t put it out, it blows up," he said.
The white cloud that accompanied the massive blast appeared to be a condensation cloud, often common in massive explosions in humid conditions that can follow the shock waves of an explosion, Lewis said.
Orange clouds also followed the blast, likely from toxic nitrogen dioxide gas that's released after an explosion involving nitrates.
Lebanon PM Blames Beirut Explosions on Shipment of Ammonium Nitrate Sitting in Port Since 2013.
Aug. 4, 2020
BEIRUT — A "colossal" explosion that rocked the port area of Lebanon's capital Tuesday, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands more, happened at a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate were being stored, the prime minister said.
"I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties," Prime Minister Hassan Diab said.
Diab said it was "unacceptable" that a shipment of ammonium nitrate estimated at 2,750 tons had been in warehouse for six years without "preventive measures" to protect it. The chemical compound, which is commercially available, is used widely in fertilizers and explosives.
Aly Sleem, 34, who was driving in a neighborhood near the explosion, said he heard what sounded like two blasts.
"The second one was really horrible," he said. "You couldn't even breathe."
Lebanon is in the midst of a number of social and political crises.
The country is bracing for a U.N.-backed court to deliver a verdict Friday on the death of Rafik Hariri, the prime minister who was killed by a truck bomb in 2005, sending the country's fragile political system into turmoil.
It is also grappling with the coronavirus pandemic and a spiraling economic crisis, the most severe in its modern history, that has pushed many Lebanese people to protest in the streets this year as unemployment has soared.
SO, NO, IT WAS NOT A NUCLEAR BOMB, IT WAS NOT AN ATTACK FROM ISRAEL AS "VETERANS TODAY" AND OTHER ISRAEL-HATING, YELLOW JOURNALIST SITES FALSELY REPORTED.
EVEN ALJAZEERA DIDN'T BLAME THE (VIDEOTAPED) EXPLOSIONS ON ISRAEL.
IN AN EARLIER UPDATE, ALJAZEERA WROTE..."The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Officials linked the blast to some 2,750 tonnes of confiscated ammonium nitrate that were being stored in a warehouse at the port for six years.
The governor had revealed that a security report from 2014 warned of the possibility of an explosion in Lebanon's capital as highly explosive materials had not been stored in a way to ensure public safety.
Letters show officials knew of danger posed by ammonium nitrate cargo at Beirut port six years before deadly blast.
In the explosion's devastating aftermath, many Lebanese are expressing immense shock and sadness at the destruction, and great anger towards those who allowed this to happen.
One letter sent in 2016 sent to "Urgent Matters judge" by a customs official noted there had been "no reply" from judges to previous requests.
It pleaded: "In view of the serious danger of keeping these (confiscated Russian) goods in the hangar in unsuitable climatic conditions, we reaffirm our request to please request the marine agency to re-export these goods immediately to preserve the safety of the port and those working in it, or to look into agreeing to sell this amount" to the Lebanese Explosives Company.
Again, there was no reply.
Customs officials sent at least five more letters over the next three years - on December 5, 2014, May 6, 2015, May 20, 2016, October 13, 2016, and October 27, 2017 - asking for guidance. They proposed three options: Export the ammonium nitrate, hand it over to the Lebanese Army, or sell it to the privately-owned Lebanese Explosives Company.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Tuesday declared the explosion at the port a "great national disaster" and promised that "all those responsible catastrophe will pay the price".
Lebanese President Michel Aoun called the failure to deal with the ammonium nitrate "unacceptable" and vowed the "harshest punishment" for those responsible. An investigation has now been launched, and the committee is to refer its findings to the judiciary within five days.
The cause of the explosion is still not clear, but many Lebanese were quick to point out what they believe to be the root causes; immense mismanagement in a broken state run by a corrupt political class who they say treat the country's inhabitants with contempt.
It is also not lost on Beirut's residents that this tragedy emanated from the city's port, a public utility known locally as the "Cave of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" for the vast amount of state funds that have reportedly been stolen there over the decades.
The allegations include claims that billions of dollars in tax revenue never reached the state treasury due to schemes to undervalue imports, as well as accusations of systematic and widespread bribery to avoid paying customs taxes.
"Beirut is gone and those who ruled this country for the past decades cannot get away with this," Rima Majed, a Lebanese political activist and sociologist said in a tweet.
"They are criminals and this is probably the biggest of their (too many) crimes so far."
George Kettaneh, the head of the Lebanese Red Cross, has said at least 100 people were killed and more than 4,000 wounded in the massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday. "
MAYBE THE ANTI-SEMITIC JOURNALISTS WILL CATCH UP ON THE FACTS TODAY?
NO NUKES, JEW-HATERS.
GOT IT?
//WW
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