Beirut

[snaark]

I always thought terrorists aren't nostalgic - they never try the same thing twice. Turns out I was wrong. Looks to me like the hezzies just sent a big fucking message to the Hariri commission.

[Alphabet]

I've got long time, local friends there who aren't responding. Anyone on the ground there? Please.

[roach coach]

I saw some of the photos of them stockpiling a shit ton of ammonium nitrate in the warehouse like idiots.

[ROB]

Almost 3000 tons. Fuck.

[Kurt]

The video of that explosion is absolutely terrifying.

Fireworks (or so it seems) with a raging fire, then explosion followed almost immediately by the really big explosion where you see the blast wave engulf that building.

Hope your friends are ok, but fuck.

[snaark]

Ok, maybe it wasn't the hezzies after all. Bit of a coincidence though...

I got lost around that area in '07. Was staying nearby and was trying to walk to the corniche. There's nothing much there - just industrial stuff and empty warehouses. I guess that's why the death toll was so low.

[Kurt]

Ok, maybe it wasn't the hezzies after all. Bit of a coincidence though...

I got lost around that area in '07. Was staying nearby and was trying to walk to the corniche. There's nothing much there - just industrial stuff and empty warehouses. I guess that's why the death toll was so low.

I thought it would have been too. I mean...Explosion + Beirut = Terrorist / Militia.

I guess that is a sign that the civil war really is over. In the olden days they would have known enough to store explosives better and not all in one place.

[snaark]

It's more than just that. This week - Friday to be exact - was supposed to mark the end of UN enquiry into Rafik Hariri's assassination (he got whacked by a massive truck bomb in '05 not far from where the current explosion happened). Five Hezbollah fighters were going to be prosecuted in absentia. Hezbollah has always denied involvement, indeed the cop who found them out got whacked by a car bomb some years ago. So, my initial reaction was that it was Hezbollah sending a message. It doesn't surprise me that politicians in Beirut aren't accusing them - even Saad Hariri has been ultra careful of pointing the finger. So, maybe it was an accident, but the timing is awfully suspicious.

[dogtanian]

I'd be inclined not to rule-out Hizbu Allah involvement just yet. The detonation looks like an accident, but the circumstances leading to the Ammonium Nitrate arriving in Beirut are more murky.

FOB Consignment from Batumi (lovely city, nice cablecar lookout, nice bread, lovely wine, but full of Russians) to Mozambique in 2013. Moldovan flagged vessel with plan to transit through Suez Canal. Consignor is some Russian playboy who likes motorbikes. Apparent "technical problems" on way, and cargo appears to have been "seized' which is unusual.

Since Russians are involved, I suspect that Beirut may have actually have been an intended intermediary destination. Mozambique is also a port frequented by Russian cargo (small arms). Having a fake destination would probably make it slightly more difficult [by perhaps an iota] for foreign intelligence agencies to track and flag for sanctions breach.

Now, Lebanese politics is constitutional arranged in a permanent configuration whereby three sects who hate each other must all agree in order for any decision to be actioned. The President must always be a Maronite Christian, the Speaker of the Parliament must always be Shiite, and the Prime Minister must always be a Sunni. If you've ever heard the term 'Mexican Standoff', a 'Lebanese stand-off' is at least 50% more fucked, due to the extra party.

Likely that the shiites wanted the cargo to stay in Lebanon (possibly because they were the original intended consignee) and the sunnis and christians wanted the cargo to the gtfo of Lebanon. Given the political pattern, no decision could ever be made. So the cargo just sits in the warehouse for seven years, until it oxidizes a bit, and accumulates enough contaminants to make it nice and explosive. Detonation was supposed to be due to a small fire (welder) that couldn't be contained. And there you have it. Bang!

A lot of tin-foil-hats are screaming Mossad. But that doesn't make sense. If they felt the need to take action, it would have been a few years back. Plus, no matter what anyone tells you, they're not into the business of needlessly killing innocent dockworkers and assorted other civilians.

[dogtanian]

Oh by the way - those red/brown fumes that you saw in the mushroom plume.
Those are all toxic oxides of nitrogen.

[dogtanian]

PPS. If it is Nitropril (as photos seem to suggest) then it's mined in Australia... and therefore even more suspicious for it to have been freighted from Batumi to Mozambique [Beirut]. The Georgian government in Tiblisi [very nice people - intensely dislike Russians] will no doubt be in bit of a tizzy today.

[snaark]

Edit: found the source myself

[sparrow]

The video of that explosion is absolutely terrifying.

Fireworks (or so it seems) with a raging fire, then explosion followed almost immediately by the really big explosion where you see the blast wave engulf that building.

Hope your friends are ok, but fuck.

Multiple buildings. Incredible.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/world/sa ... index.html

[seektravelinfo]

I understand the initial assumption and examination that this was a politically motivated attack, instead of a catastrophically violent accident man-made by negligence and ignorance.

Where the holy fuck is Lebanon’s EPA? Do they have one? We used to, until it lost its teeth.

[Alphabet]

Ok, maybe it wasn't the hezzies after all. Bit of a coincidence though...

I got lost around that area in '07. Was staying nearby and was trying to walk to the corniche. There's nothing much there - just industrial stuff and empty warehouses. I guess that's why the death toll was so low.

Not only an expert on American politics , but a geographical expert on Beirut. Boys and girls, bow down. If snaark posts something, it is fact.

I was there in 2007. Wow....that's new and useful information.

Dude...you are totally wasting your time in your current occupation. You need to just come down like the omnipotent being that you are, and tell us how wrong we all are.