Massive explosion shakes Lebanon's capital Beirut

[Mary B]

The shock went away and the anger resolved ... the Lebanese are pouring out their anger against the rulers

 

From Ellen Francis

3 MINUTES TO READ

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Walid Assi was working at a pizzeria in Beirut on Tuesday evening when he was knocked to the ground by a violent wave caused by the massive explosion. The ground shook beneath his feet and saw with his eyes a white flash before the ceiling collapsed.

People are walking next to destroyed buildings and cars as a result of the Beirut Port explosion on Wednesday. Photography: Carmen Yahshushi - Reuters Image prohibited from being resold or archived

"We cannot believe that we went out alive," Assi told Reuters in an area in the center of the Lebanese capital. "People were bleeding, lying on the floor, running in the streets ... It was a nightmare."

The staff stood in astonishment near the restaurant this morning after the huge explosion in a warehouse a few kilometers away in the port of Beirut, which investigators blamed for negligence. Asi said that as soon as the shock subsided, the anger came.

"Why should innocent people suffer in this way because of rules that are not worth anything?" Are our lives so cheap with them? ”

Residents of Beirut awoke today, Wednesday, to a capital in ruins. Rescue workers dug through the rubble in search of survivors in a city already mired in the financial meltdown and outbreak of the Coronavirus.

The blast killed at least 135 people, injured 5,000 and uprooted 250,000 from their homes after the shock waves tore through the doors and shattered windows miles away from the blast site.

It is expected to increase the death toll in the explosion, which officials said was caused by a huge stockpile of high explosive materials that had been stored for years in unsafe conditions and conditions at the port.

 

For many Lebanese, the explosion represents the latest blow they blame on the sectarian political elites that have ruled the country for decades.

The government has pledged to hold those responsible for the explosion accountable.

But for the workers and residents shoveling debris in the Gemayzeh neighborhood, famous for its nightlife circling in them clouds of dust in circles, that seemed another promise from the empty promises they were fed up with.

Thousands of Lebanese have protested since October the waste and corruption that has pushed the country into financial ruin. The local currency has since collapsed, causing prices to rise and increasing poverty.

* “The rulers seem to want our death.”

Ronny Abu Saad said in front of his sandwich shop, "What could happen to us other than death?" As if they wanted us to die. ” One of his employees died under the debris inside.

"This country now looks like its rulers, garbage, and rubble in the streets, it looks like them ... if any of them had the rest of their awareness, they would leave."

 

Around him, shards of glass and pieces of twisted metal scattered in the street. The roof of a large gas station was smashed by its pumps. All the tall building terraces collapsed.

In one of the alleys, billboards and tree branches fell and destroyed a row of cars. In another alley, a man was walking back and forth on the sidewalk, muttering, "This is war."

Abu Saad, whose furniture near his sandwich shop was broken, did not sleep through the night. "We are still under the impact of a shock," he said. "No one of us understands the scale of the destruction."

https://ara.reuters.com/article/topNews/idARAKCN2512XQ

[Mary B]

Lebanese Customs: The warehouses under the administration and investment of the port, and the responsibility is determined by the judiciary

 Time: 8/20/2020 22:55:45

 

 

  

{International: Al Furat News} The Director General of Customs in Lebanon, Badri Daher, announced that the stores are under the custody of the management and investment of the Beirut port, explaining that the customs do not manage the store, but their work is based on guarding and preventing smuggling.

He said in press statements, "I adhere to the law that compels me to implement judicial decisions and draw attention to the presence of ammonium nitrate in the port was an addition of me."
Daher pointed out that there is a correspondence from the former director general to the Ministry of Finance regarding ammonium nitrate, stressing that the issue of limiting responsibility rests with the judiciary.
Wafa al-Fatlawi

https://alforatnews.com/news/الكمارك-اللبنانية-المخازن-بعهدة-ادارة-واستثمار-المرفأ-والمسؤولية-يحددها-القضاء

[yota691]

The "Beirut explosion" deepens the wounds of the already troubled Lebanese economy

A picture of the effects of the explosion in Beirut yesterday

 August 05, 2020 2:56 PM

Direct - Imane Ghali: Negative repercussions deepening the wounds of the Lebanese economy, which was stricken after the Beirut bombing on Tuesday, to aggravate the economic and political conditions in her country, moving towards the scenario of Venezuela’s economic collapse.

On Tuesday, the Lebanese capital was shaken by a large explosion, which caused severe damage, adding to the complexity of the economic problem that the country suffers from.

A huge explosion in the Beirut port killed dozens and injured thousands, as well as destroying buildings across the country, and officials attributed this to the explosion of chemicals stored there.

The bombing puts more pressure on the economic crisis that the country suffers from before the popular protests that it was exposed to at the end of 2019, as well as the central bank crisis, the resignation of the government, as well as defaulting on debts.

Fallout from the explosion

For his part, Lebanese Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said today, Wednesday, that his country has reserves of grain sufficient for less than a month, after the explosion destroyed the main grain silo, noting that the search for storage areas is currently being sought, as Lebanon needs stocks sufficient for at least 3 months to ensure food safety, according to Reuters.

According to the Ministry of Health, the explosion killed at least 100 people, and injured more than 4,000 others. The Governor of Beirut, Marwan Abboud, explained that the damage to the buildings was so widespread that an estimated 200,250,000 people lost their homes .

Abbas Ibrahim, director of Internal Security in Lebanon, said that the ferocity of the explosions was caused by the nearby presence of ammonium nitrate - a substance considered a common fertilizer but also used to make bombs - which he said the government confiscated from a ship in the city's port several years ago.

This explosion places more pressure on the health care system, which is already under severe pressure from the Coronavirus pandemic, as the government has re-closed the country with the escalation of infection rates again, in addition to Beirut hospitals being exposed to an explosion.

Consecutive crises

Lebanon faced several crises in the previous period since the protests began in the last months of 2019 to demand the resignation of the government, which happened when Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned and threatened to evade the entire government.

This comes in addition to the economic problem that included the decline of the Lebanese pound, as it lost between 85 and 90% of its value since September 2019, which contributed to the outbreak of demonstrations and the financial collapse followed, bringing the public debt to $ 92 billion, representing 10% of the value. The country's GDP.

This led to high inflation, unemployment, poverty, company closures, and Lebanon's announcement that it had failed to pay the debts due last March, at a value of $ 1.2 billion, with the Finance Ministry announcing the cessation of all Eurobond bonds due in dollars .

These factors forced the central bank to turn to its reserves to support wheat, fuel and medicine, and fuel and bread shortages became common.

Hopes for a solution and relief efforts

With all the crises that the country faced in the previous period, attention is turning towards the International Monetary Fund. After defaulting on the payment of the country's Eurobonds last March, Lebanon began talks with the International Monetary Fund to obtain a loan of 10 billion dollars.

Negotiations stalled as Lebanese officials struggled to agree on the size of the losses in the financial system and implement the economic reforms needed to return the money.

Attention is also drawn to potential aid from the Gulf Cooperation Council states that previously provided aid.

France, which hosted the 2018 International Donors Conference which resulted in pledges of more than $ 11 billion in loans and grants to Lebanon, sees the IMF bailout plan as the only option for the country although it has expressed its willingness to provide assistance after the port explosion.

Several countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, have announced urgent assistance to Lebanon in the aftermath of that explosion.

[yota691]

06-08-2020 08:51 AM

Deputy: The Beirut incident is a new setback for Arabs from the ocean to the Gulf

 

 

Baghdad / news

The deputy from Diyala Governorate, Riyadh Al-Tamimi, considered the Beirut incident yesterday as a new setback for Arabs from the ocean to the Gulf.

Al-Tamimi said in a statement received by “Al-Akhbariya”, “They killed Beirut, and perpetuated the hearts of the Arabs. Yes, it is a pampered Beirut that has become afflicted, and before Baghdad, Damascus, and Sanaa, the beacons of science, culture and art. The war merchants are among them, were it not for the power of influence of the Egyptian army and the extrication of Cairo from the incident. "

Al-Tamimi added, "The Arabs live from the ocean to the Gulf, a plague beyond what comes after a setback. Yesterday, he used to seek help from them for help, and now they are appealing and asking for that help, their wheat and wheat, which the far and near knows between the burning in Baghdad and the bombing in Beirut, their knowledge is at the bottom of the university lists, and their culture has not Cultures are considered to rise, and their relics are in the forgotten stages, and some of them have passed away with the ISIS of the age, and their heritage is in the news.

He explained: "With the magnitude of the pain over the Beirut catastrophe, we are agonizing over seeking help from the East and the West, and we have lost the simplest ways of life, as if the whole world gathered against us, and the Arab people are now begging."

Al-Tamimi continued, "We will not exclude that Baghdad will arrive worse than what Beirut reached in the event the situation continues as it is, so how do they delude the fate of fate but shame when we connect the Iraqi people to these tragedies and then say to the world" Help us ", so we will all bear responsibility, and we will all be partners To collapse unless mistakes are corrected. "

He stressed that "the Arab hand is required, and the Iraqis’ solidarity is necessary and calculated, and the decision-makers in Iraq must correct before the painful end. "

[yota691]

 

Beirut Lebanon Explosion negative filming 

 

Premiered 6 hours ago

 

 

 

As I said earlier, being of the 12B variety in the US Army for 8 years.....this was 💯 Drone strike in retaliation for Irans proxies attacking US Embassy in Baghdad. US Sat Intel and Israeli Hardware. 
You can clearly see the missile in this footage.

 

 

 

[boosterbglee]

Thanks Yota......the plot thickens!

[DoD]

Iran just can't catch a break...all those wasted bombs an bullets, karma coming back hard on this demonic state. 

[yota691]

07-08-2020 01:05 PM

America pledges more than $ 17 million in initial aid to Lebanon

 

 

Follow-up - news

The American Embassy in Beirut announced that the United States will provide $ 17 million in emergency aid to help Lebanon overcome the terrible tragedy of the "Beirut explosion".

The embassy posted a tweet on its Twitter account, announcing the United States' support for Lebanon with emergency aid.

 

[yota691]

07-08-2020 12:26 PM

A deputy similar to what a Lebanese woman said to Macron not to spend the Kuwait conference for Iraq

 

 

Baghdad / news

Member of the House of Representatives Dhafer Al-Ani likened what a Lebanese woman said to French President Macron, not to disburse Kuwait conference donors ’money to Iraq.

Al-Ani said in a tweet on his Twitter account that "during a visit to Macron, a Lebanese woman shouted: Mr. President, don’t give money to Lebanon, so our officials are thieves."

He added: "The situation reminded me of the donors' conference for Iraq in Kuwait, which allocated more than twenty billion dollars to Iraq, but they stopped it because they have the same idea of this woman as the Iraqi officials."

[yota691]

Continued lifting of debris at Beirut Port, and the death toll reaches 154

Editing Date: 7/8/2020 14:27 • 48 times read

[Follow_Eye]
Civil defense teams and security forces continue searching and removing rubble at Beirut Port, which was rocked by an explosion last Tuesday, which resulted in a large number of victims and injured.

Research teams found 3 bodies during the debris removal work from Beirut Port.
Lebanese media said that one of these bodies belonged to the young man, who was missing after the explosion.
The Lebanese Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan,
announced that the number of victims has increased to 154. The Higher Relief Commission in Lebanon announced that more than 8,000 housing units were damaged by the Beirut port explosion.

[yota691]

A new video documents the scale of the massive destruction in Beirut

2020.08.07 - 11:36

 

Baghdad - people  

On Friday, Lebanese media released new scenes from inside the port of Beirut, which showed "the huge scale of destruction" that occurred after last Tuesday's explosion.  

And the Lebanese channel "MTV", followed by "Nass" (7 August 2020), recently filmed scenes from inside the port, and said: "In the attached video, you see the scale of the massive destruction in the port of Beirut, following the bombing that took place on Tuesday."  

 

 

 

The National Defense Council in Lebanon declared Beirut a disaster city, and recommended declaring a state of emergency in the country against the background of the accident.  

While the Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, said at the beginning of the Supreme Defense Council meeting, that a major catastrophe has befallen his country, stressing that the aim of this meeting is to take the necessary judicial and security measures. 

  

 

[Mary B]

THE LEBANESE JUDICIARY DECIDES TO ARREST THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF CUSTOMS IN CONNECTION WITH THE BEIRUT PORT BOMBING

Friday, 7 August 2020 9:48 PM

Classification:  global

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https://nnciraq.com/38740/

[yota691]

 

[yota691]

 

[yota691]

 

[yota691]

Evacuation of high-risk items from Baghdad airport and all border crossings

Baghdad Airport - archive photo

 09 August 2020 08:54 PM

 

Mubasher: The Border Ports Authority announced the evacuation of very dangerous materials from Baghdad International Airport.

The authority said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), today, Sunday, that this came in implementation of the directives of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to form an urgent committee to detect high-risk chemical and dual-use substances and ammonia nitrate in all land, sea, and air border crossings.

She added, "Under the direct supervision of the head of the Border Ports Authority, Omar Al-Waeli, the National Operations Center was approached to instruct the Military Engineering Directorate detachment of the Ministry of Defense for the purpose of providing the necessary cadres and mechanisms to safely transport highly dangerous materials from the air cargo section at Baghdad International Airport." The transfer process was carried out in a fast and professional manner, and was delivered to its safe destination, the stores of the Military Engineering Directorate. "