Beirut Explosion

[Ocean]

Totally. To me that suggests a tunnel network leading somewhere else. Were they built at the time of the port construction, or afterwards? If afterwards, who had that kind of access? The plot thickens!
The port has a pretty chaotic history with it being fully or partially destroyed twice. Wiki entry.

Investigators find labyrinth of underground rooms at epicenter of Beirut explosions, report claims

Investigators Find Labyrinth of Underground Rooms at Epicenter of Beirut Explosions, Report Claims

As many as 60 people remain missing following Tuesday’s massive blasts in the Lebanese capital, with over 150 killed and up to 6,000 suffering injuries of varying...

sputniknews.com

The latest news of the discovery of tunnels under the harbor after the explosion.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1292404521239490561

 

[trytofly]

Al Arabiya English has an article where a Russian expert thinks much of the fertilizer was stolen or unaccounted for, because he estimates that all of Beruit would have been destroyed if all 2700 tons blew, and he estimates the blast to be 300 tons.

Beirut would be ‘erased’ had full chemical load exploded, bulk likely stolen: Expert

The amount of ammonium nitrate which led to the deadly Beirut explosion must have been much less than the original stockpile or else the Lebanese capital

english.alarabiya.net

And as far as secret underground tunnels... the Lebanese navy is part of the port, so it wouldn't be unusual to have secretive areas underground. So, what is civilian or military is mingled a little.

I am no expert, but would it be possible for a large network of tunnels to absorb a significant part of the explosion?

If the Russian expert is right, one could also assume that the explosion triggered voluntarily was of a smaller scale than expected, the original goal being to completely raze Beirut.
Just a guess.

Anyway really, the scale of the explosion and the damage is already very impressive. I sympathize with all the direct and indirect victims who will follow with this tragedy.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Al Arabiya English has an article where a Russian expert thinks much of the fertilizer was stolen or unaccounted for, because he estimates that all of Beruit would have been destroyed if all 2700 tons blew, and he estimates the blast to be 300 tons.

Beirut would be ‘erased’ had full chemical load exploded, bulk likely stolen: Expert

The amount of ammonium nitrate which led to the deadly Beirut explosion must have been much less than the original stockpile or else the Lebanese capital

english.alarabiya.net

And as far as secret underground tunnels... the Lebanese navy is part of the port, so it wouldn't be unusual to have secretive areas underground. So, what is civilian or military is mingled a little.

Probably just a coincidence, but in the Texas explosion I mentioned earlier, the investigation concluded that only 30 out of 270 tons of AN in the warehouse detonated.

 

[ApotheosisMMC.]

It is not clear to me that the sites that Netanyahu pointed out on his speech were 'exactly' the same as the site of Tuesday's blast. It appears that what Bibi was talking about was here. Same Beirut coastline, but not the exact same spot.

However, I was impressed by the similarity of the explosion that Meyssan says took place in Syria in January with the one we saw in Beirut. This is the video that Meyssan links to:

It's the same characteristic water-vapor/shockwave bubble.

It is not clear to me that the sites that Netanyahu pointed out on his speech were 'exactly' the same as the site of Tuesday's blast. It appears that what Bibi was talking about was here. Same Beirut coastline, but not the exact same spot.

However, I was impressed by the similarity of the explosion that Meyssan says took place in Syria in January with the one we saw in Beirut. This is the video that Meyssan links to:

It's the same characteristic water-vapor/shockwave bubble.

The BBC has come out to try to explain the white fungus shape that occurred in the explosion ... although it is produced by nuclear weapons and explosions, they say that it can occur in other types of explosions and phenomena, the cloud itself occurs when there is enough "wet oxygen" and that ammonium nitrate also contains considerable amounts of oxygen ... which for what I have looked for is true and will make the combustion processes, while at the same time releasing water vapor, the two chemical components that would be needed in this type of clouds.

However, this type of phenomenon, generally known as a "condensation cloud" or "Wilson cloud" is more common than it seems and is not always associated with atomic weapons.

What is the Wilson cloud?
As explained by the Meteorological Service of Southern Brazil (Metsul), when large explosions occur in sufficiently humid air, the shock wave causes rarefaction (reduction in density) of the air around the explosion.

According to Metsul, this reduction in density produces a temporary cooling of that part of the air, which causes condensation of part of the water vapor contained in it.

This type of cloud formation takes its name from those reported after nuclear tests in 1946.
wilson cloud
It is this phenomenon that generates the so-called condensation cloud or Wilson.

Andrew Sella, a chemistry professor at University College London, described to the BBC that it is also associated with the shock wave that is produced by compressed air.

"The air expands rapidly, then suddenly cools and the water condenses, creating the cloud," he says.

Metsul adds that the shape of the shock wave is influenced by other factors, such as the variation in the speed of sound, altitude, temperature and humidity of the different atmospheric layers.

Why was the cloud so big?
According to reports, the shock wave reached almost 10 kilometers across the Lebanese capital.

Metsul indicates that the greater the explosive charge it detonates, the greater the size of the cloud and the impact of its shock wave.
The shock wave left parts of the city devastated.
wave
According to an article in the digital academic publication The Conversation written by chemical engineer Gabriel da Silva, from the University of Melbourne, Australia, one of the keys to the severity of the explosion and the cloud it generated is in the density of the oxygen product of the material that exploded.

"Ammonium nitrate does not burn on its own. It acts as a source of oxygen that accelerates the combustion of other materials," he wrote.

"Ammonium nitrate pellets have much more concentrated oxygen than the air around us. At high temperatures, this compound decomposes violently, creating gases such as nitrogen oxide and water vapor," he added.

Why is it called a Wilson cloud?
In their book The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, Samuel Glasstone and Philip J. Dolan say that the cloud was named after American scientists who observed some nuclear tests in 1946 on Bikini Atoll, in the Pacific.

According to the authors, they named it because of its similarity to another cloud that appears under laboratory conditions in the so-called Wilson cloud chamber, an instrument that facilitates the temporary reduction of pressure in a closed system and marks the trajectory of the particles. electrically charged subatomic.

However, although it took that name from nuclear tests, later they were also called condensation clouds, so as not to always associate them with atomic weapons.

And is that this type of clouds can sometimes also occur in non-tragic phenomena, such as the flight of supersonic aircraft

PD:
the Lebanese prime minister announced that the entire government will resign due to the explosion and growing protests.
Lebanon’s ENTIRE government resigns over Beirut mega-blast amid corruption scandal

 

[mrtn]

According to Metsul, this reduction in density produces a temporary cooling of that part of the air, which causes condensation of part of the water vapor contained in it.

I find this explanation not very intuitive and I don't understand what it has to do with temperature. Up until now I explained it to myself like this: The explosion/expansion pushes the air outwards from the center, creating a higher pressure around it and this push/pressure propagates further outward as the shockwave (which by the way can be faster than sound because it is not just a wave as propagation of the wiggling of air (like sound) but the temporary push/move/propagation of air itself). After the generation of heat and expansion stops at the center the air gets sucked back into the center again and this underpressure also propagates outwards as the air previously pushed outwards (let's say for some meters) now wants to flow back to the position where it was before the explosion so to say. This underpressure behind the shockwave also lowers the dew point, which means the air temporarily cannot hold its contained water in a gaseous state and the water becomes liquid, forming droplets and thus a cloud. Finally when the air is back at its position and the pressure normalizes the dew point also raises back to normal and the droplets evaporate back into water gas and the cloud disappears.
You also can see this effect in this forum thread here

Weird pulse waves in a tunnel

A contact on facebook just post this youtube video (CAPTURED ON VIDEO: POSSIBLE GLITCH IN OUR MATRIX - Antioquia, Colombia 2018) and I unable to say if it's a edited footage or not. It's quite interesting and weird. In the description we can read this : I have personally confirmed and verified...

cassiopaea.org

You can also see here that the cloud propagation lags behind the propagation of the shockwave visible on the water:

 

[duyunne]

Investigators find labyrinth of underground rooms at epicenter of Beirut explosions, report claims

Investigators Find Labyrinth of Underground Rooms at Epicenter of Beirut Explosions, Report Claims

As many as 60 people remain missing following Tuesday’s massive blasts in the Lebanese capital, with over 150 killed and up to 6,000 suffering injuries of varying...

sputniknews.com

The latest news of the discovery of tunnels under the harbor after the explosion.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1292404521239490561

I think most major cities have these to be honest. But according to wikipedia, Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, and Ottoman remains were excavated from underneath downtown. So cities as old as Beirut present during so many phases in history I imagine would have some pretty strange stuff happening under them.

"Opening up"

 

[Bluegazer]

The BBC has come out to try to explain the white fungus shape that occurred in the explosion ... although it is produced by nuclear weapons and explosions, they say that it can occur in other types of explosions and phenomena, the cloud itself occurs when there is enough "wet oxygen" and that ammonium nitrate also contains considerable amounts of oxygen ... which for what I have looked for is true and will make the combustion processes, while at the same time releasing water vapor, the two chemical components that would be needed in this type of clouds.

However, this type of phenomenon, generally known as a "condensation cloud" or "Wilson cloud" is more common than it seems and is not always associated with atomic weapons.

There are bombs in the arsenal that can produce such an atomic cloud effect:

Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power

Father of All Bombs - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The thermobaric device yields the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT using about seven tons of a new type of high explosive. Because of this, the bomb's blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to a small tactical nuclear weapon. The bomb works by detonating in mid-air. Most damage is inflicted by a supersonic shockwave and extremely high temperatures. Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons in that they generate a longer, more sustained blast wave with greater temperatures. In doing so, they produce more damage over a larger area than a conventional weapon of similar mass.

Perhaps, if you know how to use ammonium nitrate, you can create the thermobaric effect.

 

[Ocean]

Lebanon's entire government resigns


LEBANON'S entire government has collapsed as officials have fallen on their swords over the colossal explosion that killed 160 people.
Lebanon's health minister Hamad Hassan confirmed the government would resign following an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday amid allegations of corruption and negligence.

Lebanon’s ENTIRE government resigns over Beirut mega-blast

LEBANON’S entire government has collapsed as officials have fallen on their swords over the colossal explosion that killed 160 people. Health minister Hamad Hassan confirmed the government wo…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[ApotheosisMMC.]

I find this explanation not very intuitive and I don't understand what it has to do with temperature. Up until now I explained it to myself like this: The explosion/expansion pushes the air outwards from the center, creating a higher pressure around it and this push/pressure propagates further outward as the shockwave (which by the way can be faster than sound because it is not just a wave as propagation of the wiggling of air (like sound) but the temporary push/move/propagation of air itself). Después de que la generación de calor y la expansión se detiene en el centro, el aire vuelve a ser succionado hacia el centro y esta depresión también se propaga hacia afuera, ya que el aire previamente empujado hacia afuera (digamos algunos metros) ahora quiere fluir de regreso a la posición donde estaba. antes de la explosión, por así decirlo. Esta subpresión detrás de la onda de choque también reduce el punto de rocío, lo que significa que el aire no puede retener temporalmente el agua contenida en un estado gaseoso y el agua se vuelve líquida, formando gotas y, por lo tanto, una nube. Finalmente, cuando el aire vuelve a su posición y la presión se normaliza, el punto de rocío también vuelve a la normalidad y las gotas se evaporan de nuevo en gas de agua y la nube desaparece.
También puede ver este efecto en este hilo del foro aquí.
[URL unfurl = "true"] Weird pulse waves in a tunnel [/ URL]

También puede ver aquí que la propagación de la nube va por detrás de la propagación de la onda de choque visible en el agua:

[/CITAR]

I find this explanation not very intuitive and I don't understand what it has to do with temperature. Up until now I explained it to myself like this: The explosion/expansion pushes the air outwards from the center, creating a higher pressure around it and this push/pressure propagates further outward as the shockwave (which by the way can be faster than sound because it is not just a wave as propagation of the wiggling of air (like sound) but the temporary push/move/propagation of air itself). After the generation of heat and expansion stops at the center the air gets sucked back into the center again and this underpressure also propagates outwards as the air previously pushed outwards (let's say for some meters) now wants to flow back to the position where it was before the explosion so to say. This underpressure behind the shockwave also lowers the dew point, which means the air temporarily cannot hold its contained water in a gaseous state and the water becomes liquid, forming droplets and thus a cloud. Finally when the air is back at its position and the pressure normalizes the dew point also raises back to normal and the droplets evaporate back into water gas and the cloud disappears.
You also can see this effect in this forum thread here

Weird pulse waves in a tunnel

A contact on facebook just post this youtube video (CAPTURED ON VIDEO: POSSIBLE GLITCH IN OUR MATRIX - Antioquia, Colombia 2018) and I unable to say if it's a edited footage or not. It's quite interesting and weird. In the description we can read this : I have personally confirmed and verified...

cassiopaea.org

You can also see here that the cloud propagation lags behind the propagation of the shockwave visible on the water:

Now that you point out the temperature and other things, I agree that the explanation leaves a lot to be desired and is apparently simplified, thus causing important parts to be omitted to understand the wilson cloud ... although at the end of the day there may be A combination of factors in this explosion outside of those already generally suspected, such as ammonium nitrate and sodium nitrate, I will try to explain the part of the wilson cloud in more detail for the sake of gathering as much information as possible, I also have another video that is worth watching, it also belongs to the crossroads operation that you put in the image, but in this one it is not about the bomb detonated underwater, but about the first bomb dropped from the air.

to start in a wilson cloud you need humid air which should be present to a greater or lesser extent because it is a maritime sector despite the fire of the fire, if this contributes significantly to minimize it, I do not know, but for the moment let's say that the masses of water vapor are sufficient and that we should have plenty of humid air, also the cloud would not have been bigger due to the fact that the explosion is not at the level of an atomic bomb.

In these explosions the shock wave would displace the air, decreasing the density of the air that remains behind it (that is, the rarefraction occurs), but elsewhere it says that the shock wave in its "negative face" is originally in quotation marks, So I think it refers to the air with lower density left behind by the impact of the wave and it would not be that the surrounding air tries to fill the void left, generating in turn a cold air current despite the fact that the air could be more or less warm around and the speed acquired would not be enough to cool it, again it is something that I do not, but although this cold air could cause condensation of the water vapor, it would not be rarefraction since the air mass would not leave spaces with lower density behind it, also in the thread that you left me you published a video where you can see the rarefraction effect produced by the wings of an airplane where after moving the air with the front part of the wing, it leaves an area behind it is with men or air density which leads to the condensation of water vapor ... so let's stay with the shock wave leaving behind a zone of low air pressure that facilitates the condensation of water vapor forming the cloud, Now the temperature factor comes in here! Although the shock wave reduced the deity of the air around the explosion, the explosion itself is still hot and with the same air density ... again something I don't know, and it's against somewhat intuitive, but let's say that the air was trapped between the smoke and the chemical compounds present in it that after all did not move, but still the important factor here is the temperature, so after the cloud has formed, the displacement The explosion heats it up causing the water to evaporate again, and since the cloud is huge compared to the explosion of fire, there are also other factors that would contribute to erase it such as sunlight or the more or less rapid reestablishment of temperature to Environmental, or contact with air with greater density in its periphery, in the video taken from a boat at sea it looks even more like an atomic explosion, with the rings that usually form even.

In the image that you put me, with the previous explanation it would be normal then that the cloud will form behind the shock wave and that it lasts a little longer since the water vapor is displaced by the force of the explosion without changing its blow temperature.

now the video of the first bomb that I said was dropped in the crossroads operation looks a lot like this explosion in Beirut, in the second 54

you see a first rapid shock wave, then the formation of the somewhat transparent cloud, to finally pass a second shock wave from the explosion itself and the white at the base would be more than waves that undoubtedly formed, water vapor being displaced, the same happens with the first bomb in your image, in this case in the second 9 the first shock wave is seen to later pass to the white circle at the base that expands.

 

[Metrist]

I was curious about the rail service, and due to wars, alternative transportation, rail service ended in the 90's. This from wikipedia:

Rail transport in Lebanon began in the 1890s as French projects under the Ottoman Empire but largely ceased in the 1970s owing to the country's civil war. The last remaining routes ended for economic reasons in the 1990s. At its peak Lebanon had about 408 kilometres (254 mi) of railway.[1]

So, without rail, it was just too big a deal to move it.

 

[Ocean]

Pretty amazing updates on the Beirut port incident. I have no doubt whatsoever that this was the most sophisticated STRATEGIC military operation of all times.

First, the entire cabinet has resigned.



Updated at 10th August 2020, 3:25 p.m. ET
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his cabinet's resignation Monday, responding to outrage over a catastrophic explosion in Beirut.
"Today I announce the resignation of this government," Diab said in a national TV address. "May God protect Lebanon."

The country is FINALLY united--against the status quo, NOT against external enemies.

Lebanese Protesters Call for Revolution, Storm Government Buildings in Rage Over Beirut Blast
Protesters in Lebanon attempted to storm the country’s Parliament in Beirut on Sunday as rage against the government continued nearly a week after a massive double blast killed at least 158 people, injured nearly 6,000 more and left another 300,000 homeless. Lebanese television showed flames breaking out at the entrance to the square near the Parliament, as police fired tear gas canisters hoping to disperse rioters.
One of the protesters, a 19-year-old, told a Reuters reporter he wanted to “destroy” the government

https://twitter.com/x/status/1292159292137779200

"The U.S. Treasury and Israel both believe Hezbollah controls many of Beirut’s port facilities."

Hezbollah Will Not Escape Blame for Beirut
When anger replaces sorrow, much of it will be directed at the Iran-backed militia.
There are no prizes for guessing who in Lebanon might be interested in keeping such vast quantities of explosive material close at hand. The U.S. Treasury and Israel both believe Hezbollah controls many of Beirut’s port facilities.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com

Hezbollah took over the port in 1982.
Government officials didn't even know THIS:



A NETWORK of underground facilities at the port. NOT SHELTERS. Offices, tunnels, and so on. The crater is almost 141 feet deep. That means the explosion was used to kill everybody underground.
The government PREVENTED rescue efforts at the port for 48 hours. GUESS WHAT? Almost all of the missing are MALE, most of them military aged.



Beirut explosion: Lebanese people scramble to find missing people online
The explosion has killed at least 100 people and injured at least 4,000, with many more still unaccounted for.

CHECK IT OUT: None of these are homes. They're all offices and conference rooms.

TWO king-size beds? It's a VIP guesthouse.



Every rescue I've seen so far is of MILITARY-AGE MALES. Click the image to make it full size.

https://t.co/lkTEQUNEzr?amp=1

All these berets are army or navy special forces. This guy wears a T-shirt with the emblem of the Lebanese armed forces. ZERO TRAINING IN SEARCH AND RESCUE.




This T-shirt logo is Lebanese Civil Defense. Controlled by Hezbollah. And he's there to TAKE PHOTOS?!



In the 2006 war, Hezbollah operative Salam Daher posed as a Civil Defense worker. He was known as Green Helmet Guy. All he did was "find" dead babies and toddlers and display them to the cameras. The tiny bodies never showed any signs of trauma.



This guy has a special-forces beret folded and tucked into the pocket on his right leg. Due to his age, he's obviously an officer, a major or colonel. FILMING.




What about the grain silos? Is the country facing starvation? NO. The silos held 120,000 metric tons. On the day of the event, they were holding 15,000 tons--of CORN. Not wheat. Corn is what they feed animals.
BEFORE the event, the silos were designated Lebanon's national wheat stockpile. NOW? "Economy Minister Raoul Nehme has reassured the public that there would be no flour or bread crisis."
"He also told Reuters his ministry had been planning to create a strategic reserve of around 40,000 tonnes but had not managed to do so yet."
"I saw we didn’t have a strategic stock, decided to buy one and got the approval of the council of ministers,' he said, adding that they had been in the final stages of negotiations. '"Luckily we did not - it would have been destroyed."
Boy, sure was LUCKY, eh? Lebanon will be fine. The Gulf Cooperation Council will help them get through the food crisis. That's why the Economy Minister said that there will be no shortage, even though there are no stockpiles.

And let me point out AGAIN that the Beirut suffered SUPERFICIAL damage, and the 5000 injured were cut by broken glass or bonked on the head by part of the ceiling coming down.

At any rate, this was a massive STRATEGIC operation against Hezbollah, using new weapons and MASSIVE infiltration. It took YEARS to prepare.

The blast effect was directed upward and downward. Simultaneously, multiple Hezbollah and Iranian homes, offices, conference rooms, and guesthouses were destroyed. The same directed blast effect was used, but these had to have been separate weapons.

No air-launched bombs or missiles were employed. My theory is nanodrone swarms of tiny fuel-air explosives.

This is the targeting of an al-Qaeda terrorist in Yemen in 2015. He was killed by a nanodrone fuel-air explosive.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1292959515432738816

Since he was hit at the exact moment he was clear of both crowds, that means the nanodrones are autonomous. No human has reactions fast enough to pilot such a drone. I'm sure that a human watcher gave the drone the "Go" order, and then IT chose when to strike.
The power of the compressed explosive gas inside nanodrones means that a drone swarm the size of a beehive could bring down an entire building. Precision obliteration.
Lebanon is about to be free. Iran and Hezbollah are defeated.

Carlos Osweda (pseudonym)
Twitter

 

[Niall]

Pretty amazing updates on the Beirut port incident. I have no doubt whatsoever that this was the most sophisticated STRATEGIC military operation of all times.

Nothing will ever top 9/11 on that score, but yes, this incident looks like it was a successful strategic strike by Israel, which appears to have won the 'Third Lebanon War'. Possibly the last one too, as the nation-state of Lebanon may not survive this.

The country is FINALLY united--against the status quo, NOT against external enemies.

Sort of. The mass resignation of the formal govt suggests a united front, but because Hezbollah is effectively a 'parallel govt' with strong support from a large portion of the population, this means the country is actually extremely divided, and may re-enter a state of civil war such as lasted from 1975-1990.

Hezbollah took over the port in 1982.

Says who? 'Took over' in what way?

The government PREVENTED rescue efforts at the port for 48 hours.

Source?

Almost all of the missing are MALE, most of them military aged.

The missing at the port would also be port workers, repair men, firemen, sailors, so... all (or mostly) males 'of military age'.

CHECK IT OUT: None of these are homes. They're all offices and conference rooms.

No, they're also homes. Many homes, especially apartments.

TWO king-size beds? It's a VIP guesthouse.

Or it's just someone's home with two king-size beds?

All these berets are army or navy special forces. This guy wears a T-shirt with the emblem of the Lebanese armed forces. ZERO TRAINING IN SEARCH AND RESCUE.

Ok. How do you know that? Do YOU have 'training in S&R'?

This T-shirt logo is Lebanese Civil Defense. Controlled by Hezbollah. And he's there to TAKE PHOTOS?!

Why would that be problematic?

In the 2006 war, Hezbollah operative Salam Daher posed as a Civil Defense worker. He was known as Green Helmet Guy. All he did was "find" dead babies and toddlers and display them to the cameras. The tiny bodies never showed any signs of trauma.

THAT is propaganda of the blackest kind, probably courtesy of Israeli hasbara. The IDF killed up to 1,300 Lebanese civilians during that war, and left around a million homeless because they wiped out much infrastructure.

This guy has a special-forces beret folded and tucked into the pocket on his right leg. Due to his age, he's obviously an officer, a major or colonel. FILMING.

He's filming. So?

At any rate, this was a massive STRATEGIC operation against Hezbollah, using new weapons and MASSIVE infiltration. It took YEARS to prepare.

Central to that theory is the assumption that the port was some kind of 'base of operations' for Hezbollah. But only Israeli sources are claiming that. More likely, that's Israeli disinfo to put a veneer of 'military-strategic necessity' on what was in fact a brazen terror-bombing of a key node of Lebanese civilian infrastructure, intended to get the Lebanese people worked up and angry against Hezbollah. And that is how Israel has 'scored a strategic victory against Hezbollah'.

The blast effect was directed upward and downward. Simultaneously, multiple Hezbollah and Iranian homes, offices, conference rooms, and guesthouses were destroyed. The same directed blast effect was used, but these had to have been separate weapons.

Lebanon is about to be free. Iran and Hezbollah are defeated.

Yes, it's a defeat for Hezbollah, and thus for Iran, to some extent. But Lebanon is more likely to be on the verge of entering the most unfree state of affairs man can experience: anarchy and mass poverty/hunger.

 

[Ca.]

Opinion:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293204590561615874

Run Time / 35:27

Al Jazeera English
Lebanon's Aoun says blast probe looking into external interference
Aug 7, 2020

Al Jazeera English
Lebanon PM, president received hazard warning prior to blast
Aug 11, 2020
Lebanon's prime minister and president were warned by security officials last month about the explosive material stored at Beirut port which caused last week's enormous explosion.

Hillary Clinton is ‘plotting a comeback’ to usurp ‘senile Joe Biden’
Jun 25, 2020

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is plotting to make a comeback because presumptive nominee Joe Biden is “seriously senile,” according to Sky News contributor John Ruddick.

“With senility, unlike a lot of other afflictions, you only get worse, you don’t get better,” Mr Ruddick told Sky News host Chris Smith. Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, however he needs to be ratified by Democratic delegates at the national convention in August in order to officially become the nominee.

Mr Ruddick said given Mr Biden’s alleged health issues, Ms Clinton’s camp would be plotting to swoop in and take over the nomination. “Hillary Clinton is the biggest political animal in the last 100 years; she’s four times the political animal than Richard Nixon was”. “I believe Hillary Clinton is plotting to make a comeback because Joe Biden is seriously senile.”

Former Lebanese justice minister calls Hezbollah a ‘murderous’ terror group

Amid fallout of Beirut blast, Ashraf Rifi urges protection for anyone who will lead inquiry, since 'Hezbollah might kill any judge who concludes it is responsible'

www.timesofisrael.com

Today, 6:39 pm
Amid fallout of Beirut blast, Ashraf Rifi urges protection for anyone who will lead inquiry, since ‘Hezbollah might kill any judge who concludes it is responsible’

Amid the political turmoil in Lebanon and widespread calls for a commission of inquiry into the government’s role in the blast that devastated Beirut last week, the country’s former justice minister has called for the person in charge of the inquiry to get additional protection due to the threat of being targeted by Hezbollah.

Ashraf Rifi, who is also the former director-general of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) police service, also called the Iran-backed movement a terror group and said it routinely murders its rivals, in an interview with the Al-Arabiya network aired Friday.

“We should wait for the investigation [into the Beirut blast],” said Rifi, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“We demand a commission of inquiry that will be able to protect the investigating officer and the judges,” he added. “Lebanese society succumbs to the will of Hezbollah. Hezbollah might kill any judge who concludes Hezbollah is responsible. Hezbollah might kill any officer and their family.

“The investigator — whether it is an officer of the security forces or a judge — must be provided with protection and so should their family.”

Rifi, who served as justice minister from 2014 to 2016, resigned from that post in protest of Hezbollah’s influence over the country’s politics. Before that, he headed the ISF from 2005 to 2013.

“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. It is a murderous, criminal organization that kills its rivals,” Rifi said, giving as examples former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005, and two of Hariri’s associates, Wissam Eid and Wissan al-Hassan, who were killed in 2008 and 2012, respectively.

The August 4 blast in Beirut left 220 dead, 7,000 injured and an estimated 300,000 homeless. It was among the most powerful non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, damaging buildings for miles around, and leaving a crater in the heart of Beirut’s port.

Lebanon was already facing a dire economic emergency brought on by longstanding corruption, political dysfunction and the coronavirus pandemic. The destruction of the grain silos at the port reportedly left the country facing a food shortage as well.

The entire Lebanese cabinet resigned Monday over the public criticism.

Days earlier, a Lebanese blogger’s criticism of Hezbollah in the wake of the explosion went viral.

Dima Sadek, until last year an anchor on a popular political talk show before being let go for criticizing Hezbollah, remains a popular voice on Lebanese social media

On Friday, she took to Twitter, where she has over 621,000 followers, with a video lashing Hezbollah as worse for Lebanon than the enemy across the border.

The video addressed the terror group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, after his speech denying claims that Hezbollah was responsible for the port explosion.

“I want to tell you one thing: if you can answer this question for the Lebanese people, then I swear, we will all bow down to you — I will bow down to you if you can answer this question,” she said in the clip. “What has Israel done against us that’s worse than you? Answer me.”

Sadek’s video was viewed more than 715,000 times by Monday.

The video led to media interviews. One interview, published Monday in the Italian daily La Repubblica, was headlined, “Israel is an enemy, but Hezbollah has done worse.”

In the interview Sadek insisted, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that Hezbollah is worse for Lebanon than Israel. My problem with Israel isn’t political, but moral. I don’t agree with its treatment of the Palestinians.”

She accused Nasrallah of flatly lying about Hezbollah’s culpability for the blast. “Hezbollah controls everything in this country. They know exactly what was at the port.”

Covis-19 crazy in Israel. While dictating and prompting fear, with the continued lock down meme.

Here’s how much a reduction in extra unemployment benefits could slash consumer spending

• U.S. job openings slowly climbing out of deep hole
• Fed’s Kashkari warns of a ‘greater catastrophe’ that could make the last few months feel like ‘just a warm-up’
• Top CEOs pledge to hire 100,000 low-income and minority New Yorkers
• Global unemployment fears rise as a third of U.K. firms prepare for a wave of layoffs
• U.K. jobs picture looks bleak with 7.5 million furloughed or away from their job

Just like the session said, it's a slow finncial and mental bleed.

U.S. will have a delayed effect of ‘seeing the normal effects of recession,’ says J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon

Fall guy.

Investigating Riad Salame's wealth in Europe: Companies, Real Estate and "5 Dimensions of Fun" - Daraj

Offshore companies owned by the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon have quietly invested in overseas assets worth nearly US$100 million in recent years, even as he has encouraged others to invest in his economically devastated country.

daraj.com

August 11, 2020
Alia Ibrahim, Hazem El-Amin from Daraj Media, and Tom Stocks, Riad Kobeissi, Rana Sabbagh from (OCCRP)

Lebanese News and Updates
11:10 PM · Aug 11, 2020
And to refresh the memory, the 2015 suicide attack in Dahyeh used explosives and ammonium nitrate bought from from a local fixer for the use in mines and crushers according to investigations The 3 suicide attack were done by ISIS, killing 41 and injuring 200. (2/2)

Lebanese News and Updates
11:10 PM · Aug 11, 2020
And to refresh the memory, the 2015 suicide attack in Dahyeh used explosives and ammonium nitrate bought from from a local fixer for the use in mines and crushers according to investigations The 3 suicide attack were done by ISIS, killing 41 and injuring 200. (2/2)

Lebanese News and Updates
The IDF seems to have forgotten fast what they learned in 2006 and did in 2008.
10:49 PM · Aug 11, 2020

 

[susy7]

The majority of Lebanese people put the blame squarely on the political elite and the corruption and mismanagement for the Beirut Explosion on August 4rth. However, only the US backed politicians in Lebanon began parroting from the first hour of the blast that Hezbollah is to blame for this disaster and sent in their protestors that same week to start riots in the capital while hundreds were still missing and thousands remain in hospitals getting treated as hundreds were laid for their final rest. To discuss this issue with us from Beirut is Mr. Maan Bachour Former secretary general of the Arab National Congress. International response to Beirut’s disastrous explosion in Beirut shows that there is a will to surmount the devastating impact of the crisis facing the Lebanese people. However, US sanctions against Lebanon might even prevent this aid from reaching the government institutions. How will the international community be able to stand with Lebanon while the US continues its foreign policy of bullying nations? To discuss this issue with us from Washington is Dr. Ziad ALHafez, political economist.

 

[Lukasz]

Those 'sparkles' just before detonation don't look like fireworks to me, more like some kind of incendiary device, maybe something like thermite.

It reminded me that when I was a child I used to make clay volcanos with my father. We used ammonium nitrate, sugar and charcoal. I remember the effect was quite similar to the 'sparkles' seen on the video you posted. Something like this:

So maybe those 'sparkles' before detonation it's just the way ammonium nitrate burns?