by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog
I have mourned Beirut time and time again, but with all the cities I have lived in, Beirut will always be my favourite. After all, how can I ever forget its hustle and bustle before the infamous fifteen year long civil war that started on Sunday the 13th of April 1975? I was a student back then, with very limited financial resources, but back then, you didn’t have to be rich to enjoy the rich lifestyle of Beirut.
One didn’t have to go to the fancy and exclusive Casino Du Liban to see a show. With many movie theatres showing the best and latest of Hollywood, Bollywood and the Arab World; not to mention French and Italian movies among others, the cost of watching the big screen started from a Lebanese Lira, fifty US Cents to be exact, with three daily sessions playing seven days a week. One didn’t have to be able to afford five-star hotels and restaurants when one could walk out and get a falafel roll at 2 am. This is not to mention the ease of transport from the coast and its beaches to the snow-capped hills, within a day, using public and cheap shared private transport, affordable by all.
Then as the civil war started, Beirut began to shed some of its glory bit by bit. Its sea port, The Port of Beirut, was one of the first victims. The Arab World that relied on the transit trade because it didn’t have its own infrastructure and ports, imported all its good via that port, the Port of Beirut.
But incrementally, as Lebanon lost its ‘Switzerland of the East’ stature, it began to shed the features of its former glory one at a time. It was no longer the centre of commerce or entertainment, but the Lebanese people always felt that there were some foundational icons that the country would not lose.
One of the them was the Lebanese Lira and the Lebanese Banking system. Those financial entities were so robust that they managed to remain solid and functional after literally decades of strife; despite a major devaluation of the Lira in the 1980’s.
As the repercussions of the civil war and what followed it continued to chip away at the backbone of Lebanon, not only financially but also as an entity, the events of last year have incrementally accelerated the collapse of not only the Lira, but also the entire Lebanese banking system.
As the pieces of the domino continued to tumble and fall, one corner stone was put at high risk, and still faces the spectre of collapse, and this is the American University of Beirut (AUB), my alma mater. Formerly known as the Syrian Protestant College, the university was founded in 1866 and has been an elite centre of higher education for the whole region for one and a half centuries.
When I heard the news about the demise of the AUB I was shattered. What more could Lebanon lose I wondered. The last thing that came to my mind was the Port of Beirut. After all, how can a city lose a port? With a major mega explosion, it can.
Much speculation abounds as to who is behind the explosion. I am not a military and explosive expert, but the evidence I have seen points at one thing and one thing only; utter negligence.
The port did not have one explosion, but two. Literally thousands of people heard the first explosion, started to take videos of it with their smart phones, unbeknown to them that another huge one was to follow. The massive second explosion was caught on countless videos from many different angles, clearly showing it was the one that caused most of the devastation; not the first one.
This begs the question. If this was all premeditated, why would the ‘perpetrator’ deliberately create a chain reaction instead of hitting the main target directly? And, if the ‘perpetrator’ planned it this way, what was its guarantee that the first explosion would eventually lead to triggering the major one? Why execute this in such a convoluted manner and then conceal the identity of the actor? Israel would surely have boasted such a feat in harming Hezbollah’s influence and standing in Lebanon, despite what some local political enemies of Hezbollah might claim.
Some are reporting having heard Israeli jets in Lebanese airspace just prior to the attack, but such an occurrence is quite common in Lebanon. Some videos even allege finding shrapnel of Israeli missiles at the scene, but there is no evidence to corroborate those videos with the explosion.
If Israel was the culprit, why did their jets not attack that main target? Israel, unabashedly, has inflicted much devastation upon Lebanon. In the most self-righteous and open manner, it has made countless threats to Lebanon over the decades for allowing the PLO to operate from its territory, all the way to allowing Hezbollah to exist and be armed. I would be the last to defend it, but I cannot see how Israel could be behind this calamity.
Even President Trump called it an ‘attack’.
With all the divisions in Lebanon, past and present, it doesn’t take much for the blame game to get a jump-start. There are already many voices blaming Hezbollah directly or indirectly.
There are reports about a ship named ‘mv RHOSUS’ which was loaded with ammonium nitrate bound from Georgia and its cargo held in Beirut Port in 2014. Allegedly, it is the 2750 tons of the highly explosive fertilizer from that ship that exploded in Beirut. If there is indeed a culprit, did he use this volatile cargo to execute his act now or was the cargo sent to Lebanon as a time bomb six years ago? Both possibilities do not make much strategic sense for any calculating enemy of Lebanon.
Other numerous theories abound as to what material actually exploded? The reports that name the fuel as ammonium nitrate seems plausible. After all, there are records of such a stash in the port as mentioned above, the material is explosive, and this would not be a world’s first. Such disasters occurred earlier in history in many parts of the globe.
The losses of Beirut seem to have come full circle. Its sea port was one of the first to lose its stature when the gradual demise of Lebanon commenced, and now it is here no more.
In my analysis, and as my friend Abu Omar puts it, this tragic calamity is the result of ‘cumulative neglect and carelessness’.
The loss of Beirut Sea Port will have devastating consequences on the people of Lebanon. Even in a country that is fully functional, the rebuilding will require a significant amount of time and enormous funds. But for a country that is ankle-tapped and brought down to its knees by corruption and economic collapse, such rebuilding will not happen; not in the near future.
To make the situation even more dire, Lebanon is an import-reliant country. It even relies on imported foods. With its port-based wheat silos now totally destroyed, many would be imports destroyed at the docks, and already soaring food prices, famine is not an unrealistic outcome.
The cities of Tripoli and Sidon have sea ports, but they are not capable of dealing with the volumes and cannot replace the capacity of Beirut’s port.
In the face of this all, I look at Lebanon and ponder what is left to lose that already has not been lost.
Perhaps the only assets Lebanon has not lost are its coastline and mountains. They continue to be taken for granted, but who knows what is down the track?
“but the evidence I have seen points at one thing and one thing only; utter negligence.”
Yes, that is the cover story on all sides. However, it is inconceivable that the Lebanese authorities (not to mention every intelligence agency in the region) did not understand the significance and danger of the literal bomb that was left abandoned at the Port of Beirut. The fact that millions of pounds of prilled nitrate were left for years sitting on Lebanon’s only lifeline to the outside world means it was left there intentionally. There is no way it could have been left their innocently or unintentionally. Neither Lebanon nor Hezbollah can talk about this because everyone knows it would cause the Lebanese government to collapse.
All the other “why not this? why not that?” questions in the article are immaterial. The mere presence of the bomb (that’s what it was) is demonstrable proof that this was more than negligence. No one is THAT negligent.
in my humble opinion you are wrong. The Italian highway bridge also collapsed due to negligence. It happens over and over in history. for an attacker this would be very long term planning. I do not buy that line.
Lots of people are “THAT negligent”. And they usually have excellent convenient excuses.
First ammonium nitrate by itself is not particularly dangerous. If exposed to high humidity, it absorbs water. It expands, breaking its containers. It crystalizes, becoming an inconvent solid mass. It must be sealed away from the atmosphere, which it would be if shipped by sea. Its containers must inspected periodically. You probably want to keep it indoors, out of the rain.
If mixed with the proper other ingredients, it becomes a useful explosive; but apparently not critically sensitive. Miners seem to know how to do this. Farmers can probably figure it out from the safety documents. Every half-wit terrorist and false-flag agent in the world has ready access to consult miners and farmers.
Most places you need some kind of license to acquire and possess ammonium nitrate. And secure, dry storage. For large amounts, you also need competent, reliable armed guards.
The port authority in Beirut would prefer not, and probably cannot, to pay for armed guards. Besides, with Israelis, Americans, and other terrorists skulking around,
there are not many competent, reliable armed guards to be had. The port would surely like to have the use of their warehouse back. It is now a hole in the harbour-bottom, but it used to be a good building, in a good location, quay-side.
Liban is a mess :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon#Government_and_politics
“Lebanon is a parliamentary democracy that includes confessionalism, in which high-ranking offices are reserved for members of specific religious groups. The President, for example, has to be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the Speaker of the Parliament a Shi’a Muslim, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eastern Orthodox. This system is intended to deter sectarian conflict and to represent fairly the demographic distribution of the 18 recognized religious groups in government.”
In fact, over time as they learn to game the system, it allows small groups and individuals, to extract preferments by threatening refusal to participate. Liban at the moment does not have a functioning constitutional government.
Furthermore, its economy is crippled by a significant population of Syrian refugees, and the more destructive US and EU sanctions. As an intermediate step, when an economy falters, there is less and less loose cash for parasites to syphon off. But the parasites continue to think they have a God/Allah-given right to their own fair share. This is why US and UK bridges, highways, railways, water- and sewage-systems, homes, schools, health-services, and now even military, are disintegrating.
Probably, the negligence regarding the ammonium nitrate is due simply to nobody having clear authority, or whoever does have authority being too busy extracting and defending their preferments … possibly including any funds which might be allocated to move it. It might also be frozen in place by somebody who hopes to acquire effective ownership. Or maybe the Israelis, americans, or Europeans (or all of the above) have been bribing/blackmailing for its preservation as an really impressive conveniently placed bomb to destroy the port, should sanctions prove insufficient to totally destroy the economy.
It’s sheer bureaucratic incompetence.
Port authority had a ship full of dangerous chemicals, had it removed from a ‘port-of-convenience’ ship to a warehouse. The ship and the cargo was abandoned by both the supplies and the consignee. In a legal limbo.
The port authority told the authorities this abandoned nitrate was fucking dangerous, wanted it removed, but no Lebanese judge would allow it.
This is where furious investigations happen, and the ones that are really to blame will not be held guilty. The power structure must always be protected.
Sorry I don’t accept it was an ammonium nitrate explosion. No one stores that in a city much less 2750 tons of it. From the looks of it I would speculate it was a small nuke. Something else is going on here.
A small brain explaining it was a small nuke.
You should be banned by the Mods. per Saker’s rule about “small, tactical nukes”.
Dear Saker please do not form the conclusion that the explosion could not have been nuclear. Carefully observe the mushroom cloud and the devastation. There are new types of tactical nukes that have been created in this day and age. I certainly don’t go along with it being an ammonium nitrate explosion. No one stores this in a city especially 2750 tons of it as we have been told. If it was ammonium nitrate too many people would know about it and raise a red flag. All people are not stupid. And if this was the case then parade the people out that knew it and let the survivors have at them.
Saker I read a lot of your commentary and have great respect for your views. But to say it could not have been nuclear without explaining why doesn’t seem to fit your style.And for someone to come out after the explosion and say it was ammonium nitrate seems like a lie or a deception sense people of sane minds don’t store this substance in a city warehouse at the port near millions of people for six years The liability is too high for an explosion.
Just wondering: wouldn’t a nuclear blast result in (at least) some detectable radiation? ?
God help the survivors in that troubled city, and region. What an absolute horror has happened– People do not ever really recover from this.
The Saker’s position is clear, and imo, correct. His track record of accurate analysis is high and impeccable. I wonder why you, Thunderbird, an unknown occasional poster, want to push a narrative that could be considered inflammatory.
I have immense RESPECT for The Saker. I also have immense GRATITUDE for the wonderful website forum he provides. That said, no one is 100% perfect or all-knowing. Finally, simply because someone has an opinion different from mine, does not mean that that difference of opinion is “inflammatory”. If this were true, then anyone with a differing opinion would automatically become a “terrorist enemy”. If this website is going to continue functioning as the WONDERFUL resource that it is, we may all need to remember sometimes to “take a step back”, take a wider angle view of events and ask ourselves “what can and should I be learning” from this person who has a different set of eyes than mine?
Please do not use all-caps. It is literally the first Saker comment rule.
Funny you say inflammatory. I am only expressing an opinion based on my experience. And I am not pushing a narrative. Why would you think that? The Saker is just like me; we don’t know everything but we know a lot. And when I write on this blog I am only contributing as input that may or may not add to the understanding of what is going on but it adds to the pondering of what is really going on.
I agree his track record of accurate analysis is high but he has not made an analysis of this occasion yet.
If it had been a tactical nuclear weapon we would be hearing about all of the blinded people in Beirut. There must have been thousands of people looking directly at the blast when it happened… Besides, there are too many people confirming the presence of the fertilizer. Though I agree that it is insane that this much would have been stored within a city like this.
I wouldn’t rule out that this could have been an air strike. Perhaps the fertilizer stockpile was not the target, but what a weapons storage warehouse (not a fireworks warehouse) and the devastating explosion of the fertilizer was an unintended secondary explosion. The Israelis would certainly not want to take credit for the strike and it would be problematic for Hezbollah as well as they could be the focus of the backlash rather than those who failed to do anything about a hazard that was apparently known to many people.
As for storing thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate near a city:
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/beirut-explosion-raises-fresh-concern-about-newcastles-much-larger-ammonium-nitrate-stockpile/ar-BB17ALUJ
“Newcastle’s stockpile of between 6,000 to 12,000 tonnes is stored at Orica’s Kooragang Island plant in the Port of Newcastle, according to the company.
“That factory is only three kilometres from Newcastle’s CBD and only 800 metres from North Stockton residents,” said chemical engineer and community campaigner Keith Craig”
“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”. Just about every Australian farmer and their children know about the dangers of ammonium nitrate. It is used as both a fertiliser and explosive (great for clearing tree stumps), but people still store it improperly, and explosions occur.
The Oklahoma City bombing used ANFO ammonium nitrate and nitromethane. Have a look at the long list of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters
As a career professional in the logistics for such commodities I cannot fathom the extent of incompitance of keeping even a ton of that within a city. And next to fieworks storage which guaranteed even a small problem there might escalate kill thousands. Any organization responsible is criminal.
“… Israel would surely have boasted such a feat …” Right . Like they did after 911?
Exactly.
This was an act of war, just as 9/11 was, or should I say, the catalyst for war.
Nobody convince me still. I Will need more information to take part in this suggestion and there isn’t proofs in any sense. Do not discharge any likely.
I wonder if China would be interested in financing a new port in Beirut. It would be about as subprime as subprime loans get, though. Then, they’d be rewarded by being entangled in messy internal politics…or worse.
It is quite legitimate to ask who had the motive, the means and the opportunity to carry out such an attack.
Who has the proven track record of similar actions.
And who has openly and repeatedly threatened to carry out such attacks.
This is how the Oppau explosion looked to compare.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion
Ammoniumnitrate can explode but it needs ignition, the known accidents all had a strong ignition source. The first explosion seems to have provided that source.
That points to an accident.
Agree Gunther
Footage look like initial fire in warehouse triggered AN vapors from the ship
SEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=5Q9-rD2hOC0&feature=emb_logo
That fire will have heated the ship and shock waves or embers ignited the cargo.
But there is still a possibility this was made to look like an accident if a bomb was on board the ship to be triggered at the right moment.
I respectfully disagree with Ghassan on the bad luck and negligence of it all………….because I have to, as long as there are such wild coincidences between the event in Beirut…..and others in Cleveland, Ohio…………..and Miami Florida involving One Extra Shady Character………by the name of IGOR KOLOMOISKY…..within less than 48 hors of each other.
But I do mourn for the long suffering Beirut, along with Ghassan, however. I have memories of a few day’s visit there, in Beirut…..as a child 1956.
I just say, as a Seasoned Conspiracy Theorist (and proud of it by the way……very little in ANY walk of life is accomplished solo…..anything of ANY scale worth discussing ……..requires a number of humans breathing (spirare) and planning together (con) ….I mean that’s primary school level understanding of current and past history….) that it is NEVER a good idea to render judgment on an event like this………….so hastily!
AND, I am NOT saying that the following outline is proven yet, in rough outline or fine detail.
What I AM saying is the Kolomoisky Common Thread is SO compelling that it would be a major, MAJOR blunder to jump to other generalized random accidental conclusions………….until this extra-compelling evidence…..or any close competitor like it………………… IS debunked by honest investigators.
I started on this yesterday in the Cafe with Tore Says……….in this comment:
/moveable-feast-cafe-2020-08-02/#comment-839287
My good fellow patriot (and Nam vet…he…not me… with experience of big bombs exploding WAY too close for comfort.)….gives his take on why he distrusts…..or let’s say does not yet….by a long shot…trust Tore yet:
/moveable-feast-cafe-2020-08-02/#comment-839456
Fair enough……but NOW, Listen Up Hound! Ten-HUT!!!!
Did you hear Tore’s Aug 4 show out in its entirety? I don’t think you did, because if you had, your ears would CERTAINLY have picked up when she mentioned wanting to get George Webb on her show about the Beirut Ka-Boom.
SO….I found Webb (his you tube was suspended a few weeks ago)…..AND……dig guys, DIG:
Yesterday’s:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/2aRXLGcfU9iJ/ AUG 4 2020 KOLOMOISKY CLEVELAND AND MIAMI WEAPONS CACHES RAIDED? | GEORGE WEBB
Today’s:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/8tHeAkwJHV7b/
AUG 5 2020 DID KOLOMOISKY BLOW UP HIS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS CACHE IN BEIRUT? | GEORGE WEBB
Last, but not least, the black spec of a missile, drone or guided bomb in the Beirut sky…headed exactly toward the scene ONE SECOND before the BIG….(2nd) Ka-BOOM:
Sharpen your eyesight and pick out the dark spot in the sky to the left of the baby blue circle in the video
https://youtu.be/VJo-17zOTT8?t=3602
It is a bird.
Was. perhaps!
Poor thing.
You’d think it would have avoided the area, after the first explosion, instead of making a beeline towards it, no???
Thanks Bro,
I have followed G Webb from his start going on 4 years ago. He has navigated thru a “web” (no pun intended) of hundreds of contacts coming forward with docs and info that have helped paint a picture I agree with. Some “contacts” have been “not on our side”. I have met and travelled with some of these “plants” back in the 90’s and they can be quite convincing until bad “coincidences” happen. Yes, I tend to view things from a grunt’s perspective
that the innocuous looking object on the trail can wipe out the platoon. Tore may well be legit and on board. I can accept that, but in the final analysis, I have to be the one to see it. Trust but verify.
To the casual observer of MSM The Orange Man is a POS. To those who look deep they will see a systematic dismantling of a HUGE system of international (including the USA) corruption which utilizes every human frailty to compromise the operators of such. The “Art of the Deal” is in play and Sally Yates seems to be at the table. I suspect many others are too. Much skin on many asses is being “saved”. The tempo is picking up.
hound
I watched some of Sally yesterday. But not long enough to grok the assessment of many that she, in a masterful display of CYA…………..threw Comey and the FBI “under the bus”.
BTW, If he’s a POS, he sure is an extremely buoyant one…………
They keep pulling that handle and he just WON’T go down the toilet!
LOL
Cheers!
I did a statistical test on PoS this morning and can confirm that occasionally buoyancy may be observed.
What a sad and dismal ending to your essay Ghassan.
BUT – Hope is on the horizon
Syria already is reaching out to Lebanon – Russia has already sent airplanes with aid – these are the friends of Lebanon – get rid of the horrible Saudi Arabia connection and join the good people of Lebanon with the good people of Syria and Russia and that will be a true axis of good resistance for all the rest of the world.
The world needs Lebanon – not the way it was – as you Ghassan and Intibah described it so well a couple of months ago – But the real Arab Lebanon of the Middle East. True and straight and fierce to defend the real backbone of the Ancient World.
Coming from an ignorant Canadian, I think Lebanon will be a phoenix that will rise from these ashes restored and renewed. I’m sure of it, because it has to.
In a video in which filters have been applied which reverse light-to-dark between 6 and 8 seconds, from top-left-to-bottom-right, something appears and flies at extremely high speed. It has the shape of a missile.
Can someone tell us if that video is a fake?
Thank you.
I can not post the link of the video because I did not find any. Instead I post the link of the article in which you can find the 30 seconds long video.
–> the link:
https://www.voltairenet.org/article210672.html
This is an infra-red video. Most video cameras have sensors that are sensitive to infra-red so it does not need to be a professional device. What is unusual that someone had an interest to capture the scene using infra-red which is best to capture a missile or mortar device due to the heat signature.
Thierry Meysan is still unsure about the origins of the imagery. What this gives is an idea of where to look as to the origin of the projectile. The film appears to be at the opposite side of the port at waterside level. The crane nearby remained standing meaning the camera person was more than two kilometers from the blast. Hopefully more professionals can accurately pinpoint the site of the cameraperson.
We will have to wait what other info is made public.
If it is the video I saw, it was not infrared but merely had the color inverted.
Pretty sure it is fake as I gathered every video I could find on day one (forget day two, those had time to be faked) and none of them show anything like a missile even in the videos from far away. The distant videos show enough sky that any missile would have been visible descending.
There are videos showing a bit of smoke from the warehouse, then the small bangs that look like firecrackers, then the fire gets bigger and triggers a large explosion. That explosion blew volatile particles into the air which then ignited causing the massive blast.
Unless someone started a fire with this outcome intended, it looks like it was just a horrific series of unfortunate events leading to disaster.
Correction and clarification
https://www.voltairenet.org/article210681.html
On the night of 6 August 2020, we posted an article by Thierry Meyssan titled “Israel destroys East Beirut with a new weapon”. To illustrate our point, we included a video showing a missile striking the alleged Hezbollah warehouse in the port of Beirut.
This video, whose origin we acknowledged that we didn’t know, turned out to be a fabrication made from CNN footage.
It has now been removed from the article. It could have been left out altogether since it was not necessary. We apologize to our readers for this illustrational misstep.
Moreover, Benjamin Netanyahu’s photo is not the correct one. It shows the Hezbollah site next to the highway near the airport, instead of the one in the port area. This is the only copyright-free image that we could find. If you have access to the correct photo that is also copyright-free, please send it to us so that we can replace the current one.
Finally, it should be noted that Hezbollah had removed its weapons from this warehouse after Netanyahu’s speech in 2018 … something that Israel seems to overlook.
So the video was a fake like I thought.
Thank you for your explanations.
Why wouldn’t Israel attack it directly? I think we’re seeing the answer in the MSM coverage now with Macron, destroyer of the Gilets Jaunes, trying to blackmail Lebanon, and chants for Revolution.
The objective is clear. Get rid of the existing government, sow chaos and anarchy, get people to fight each other, remove Iran and Hezbollah, and open up the way for an Israeli invasion now that Palestine has been annexed.
Beirut Blast Could’ve Been Caused by Missile or Bomb, Lebanon’s President Says.
That is what we can find on sputnik.
It doesn’t prove anything but I wonder if there is something true about the infra-red video of the blast showing something, which looks like a missile, striking the ground just before the second blast.