Abdallahh from Montréal, Canada - Zaytunay Bay, Beirut via Wikimedia Commons

A massive explosion rocked Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, on Tuesday sending shock waves rippling through the city. The detonation killed at least 100 people and further injured 4,000, according to the country’s health minister. Those figures are likely to rise.

The explosion was caught on video from multiple angles and is genuinely terrifying:

There are reports the blast happened at Hangar 12 at the Port of Beirut, where authorities had allegedly stored substantial quantities of ammonium nitrate after salvaging it from a cargo ship six years ago.

BBC Syria producer Riam Dalati tweeted details of a supposed audio message from the wife of an official who said the explosion was inevitably going to happen.

The damage to the city of 1.5 million appears to be extensive:

https://twitter.com/SVNewsAlerts/status/1290682641558241283

Windows were blown out of buildings up to six miles away.

The ultimate cause of the blast has not yet been confirmed. An official investigation is underway.

UPDATE: Here is the latest information as of Wednesday morning from Lebanon’s interior minister. (ABC News)

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi told a local TV station that it appeared the blast was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in a warehouse at the dock ever since it was confiscated from a cargo ship in 2014. Witnesses reported seeing an orange cloud like that which appears when toxic nitrogen dioxide gas is released after an explosion involving nitrates.

The explosion came amid ongoing tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah military group on Lebanon’s southern border. Many residents reported hearing planes overhead just before the blast, fueling rumors of an attack, though Israeli military overflights are common.

An Israeli government official said Israel “had nothing to do” with the blast. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the news media. Israeli officials usually do not comment on “foreign reports.” The Israeli government offered emergency assistance through international intermediaries.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. “stands ready to assist Lebanon,” and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended his “deepest condolences.”

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Jake Walker has written for American Action News since the summer of 2019. His passions include geopolitics, history, and contemporary American politics. Jake's arrival in Washington, D.C. followed a rural New England upbringing in a tight-knit family.

Comments

  1. Warehouse, storing…”fireworks”????
    This amount of damage, looks more like larger munitions
    ….than just “fireworks”. At least that’s my impression.

    1. You are correct, black powder used in fireworks is a rather anemic explosive. The devastation was too extensive to be fireworks.

    2. Reports indicate that there was a large warehouse at the docks near the first incident that was storing large quatity of ammonium nitrate salvaged from a ship.

      1. 2,700 TONs of Ammonium Nitrate (red clouds) from ship. Oklahoma City Federal building (McVey) was less than a ton (estimate 3/4 ton). Let your imagination do the math.

    1. It leveled a goo part of that city. Look at what has destroyed Beruit? The Christians and Muslims lived in peace for decades. So who started the violence? The MUSLIMS did. Who always starts the violence THE MUSLIMS.

  2. Mighty Mo’s Al sure knows how to joke around.
    I’m too busy having a pandemic to care.
    Who the heck leaves sodium nitrate piled up like cord wood. Never heard of spontaneous combustion?
    I know, Vern, put this dynamite under yer mattress.

    1. You lack much info. In the WEST, Texas explosion, (I used to run trains through West and went right by that plant), it took a fire that had burned for quite a while before the nitrate blew. Yes, it does take a TRIGGER. And one such trigger would be a bomb, or a primer or the heat of a fire.

    1. Finally found a video of the entire event. First there was a fire with fireworks. Then there was the orangish-brown of the ammonium niltrate. Then there was the blast that was the most powerful. It was white and was NOT from the nitrate. My guess is real bombs were stored there too. And with the history of the area, I would guess the whole warehouse was a warehouse form munitions for the muslim terrorists.

  3. Trump said he thought it was a BOMB. Immediately all the medias and Democrats attacked and said FOR SURE it was not. And yet, I have heard NOTHING that would say that it was not a bomb that started the explosion. In fact I see evidence that it WAS a bomb that was the initial cause. THEN there was the secondary explosion that was the going off of the TONS OF AMMONIUM NITRATE.
    So let’s hear from all you ANTI-TRUMPERS. What was the cause of the INITIAL blast that set off the nitrate?
    GOTCHA.

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