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| The Beirut Collapse: Who's Behind One of the Worst Explosions of Modern Times? | |
| 2026-08-05 | |
| Hey! I know! Let's blame the Jews! Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Anhar Kochneva [REGNUM] For the sixth time on August 4, Lebanese residents have gathered in the area near the port of Beirut. They carry portraits of their deceased loved ones and posters with slogans. Exactly six years ago, one of the most horrific man-made disasters of our time occurred here – the explosion of a gigantic amount of ammonium nitrate. ' Then, two explosions were heard in the Lebanese capital. The second, which occurred approximately half a minute after the first, is considered one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in modern human history. Approximately 240 people were killed, some of whom remained alive for up to a year and a half after the explosion and died in hospitals, despite extensive efforts to provide them with necessary medical care. Among the dead were children, the elderly, and people of all ages. Officially, citizens of 14 countries were killed. Second only to Lebanese were Syrians: the passenger bus terminal under the Charles Helou Bridge, from where buses and taxis departed for cities across Syria, was in the path of the blast. Many Syrians worked at the port and in areas damaged by the blast. Among the dead were also Bengalis, Filipinos, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Palestinians, Ethiopians, citizens of France, Canada, the United States, Australia, Belgium, Armenia, Germany (including an embassy employee), and the Netherlands (including the ambassador's wife). Among the injured but surviving were several Russian citizens. The death toll could have been an order of magnitude higher, had it not been for a fortuitous event: a powerful explosion occurred at 6:06 PM. By that time, the vast majority of employees had already left their desks and gone home. Luckily, for example, were those working at the office building of the Lebanon Power Company, which was literally torn through by the blast wave, as were the buildings of the local mobile operator. Many residents of apartments in the affected areas, on the other hand, hadn't yet made it home from work. The bars on St. Michael's Street, a popular spot for partygoers, were also empty—regulars don't start gathering there until 10 or 11 PM. The blast wave primarily caused damage to numerous buildings facing west. Often, on the same street, one could see broken storefronts on one side and intact or slightly damaged ones on the other. Contrary to the popular belief that "half of Beirut was wiped off the face of the earth," only one old house was completely destroyed. The rest either had parts of walls knocked out, furniture broken, or windows and doors torn out. Despite Lebanon's economic crisis, thanks to foreign aid, most of the damaged buildings have been repaired and restored over the past few years. The evening and night of that day were marked by huge clouds of smoke billowing from the port area, the sirens of ambulances transporting the wounded to medical facilities across the country, and surgeries carried out by the light of mobile phone flashlights in hospital parking lots where the power had been cut off and wards and operating rooms were damaged. And also - piles of glass on the sidewalks and roads and the howl of countless alarms, to which no one paid attention. Even though six years have passed, the investigation into the cause of the tragedy remains unresolved. A widespread theory is that a certain welder was at fault, in other words, simple criminal negligence.
Some political forces in Lebanon are persistently trying to place responsibility on the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah, but there is no evidence of its members and leadership being involved in the incident. And the now deceased Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli bombing in September 2024, directly stated that he had information about the involvement of supporters and allies of the "Syrian opposition" in the explosion, who supplied practically unclaimed ammonium nitrate from a warehouse in the port to militants at home for organizing terrorist attacks. Indirect confirmation of this version's validity comes from numerous calculations by experts, which indicate that the power of the explosion does not correspond to the declared quantity of hazardous fertilizer stored in the warehouse. Also alarming was the fact that the explosions (the first was quite weak and caused a detonation) occurred after the government of Hassan Diab had made a preliminary decision to urgently remove a dangerous substance stored in the central part of the Lebanese capital. It was this government that was ultimately made the "scapegoat" by the organizers and participants of the unrest that subsequently engulfed Lebanon. Even though the ammonium nitrate had been stored at the port for about six years—most of that time during Saad Hariri's premiership. It was during these years that customs and other services repeatedly raised the issue of the inadmissibility of storing hazardous cargo within the port. The bombing of the warehouse could indeed have been an attempt to conceal the shortage of ammonium nitrate, if it was indeed being secretly exported to Syria. A similar reason was mentioned as a possible cause after the explosion of a weapons depot in the Syrian city of Homs on August 1, 2013, just before an inspection was being prepared there. According to another version, explosive devices could have been left near or inside the warehouse, delivered there by water by Israeli saboteurs, who might have known that saltpeter was being stored in Beirut and that it was planned to be removed from there. Many people suspect that causing a catastrophe in the center of a state with which you are at war and trying to present it as a man-made disaster seems quite logical. And the story of the Hezbollah members' pagers exploding only strengthened the suspicions of those who give this version the right to exist. In any case, the investigation is under constant pressure. The Lebanese press and experts indicate that at least 70 high-ranking local officials and military personnel are among those potentially involved in this shady case. As a result of these interventions, the investigation is practically at a standstill. And the relatives of the victims and the injured remain in the dark. The explosion at the Beirut port has forever changed the lives of countless families. And it will forever remain a sensitive issue for many Lebanese. Every year on the anniversary of the tragedy, people come to honor the memory of the victims and once again demand an investigation and a fair trial for those responsible. | |
| Posted by:badanov |
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| Posted by: Knuckles Grundy 2026-08-05 20:06 |
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| Posted by: Clyde Thaviling6482 2026-08-05 13:37 |
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| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2026-08-05 10:35 |
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| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2026-08-05 06:32 |