The Beirut blast

THE EXACT cause of the explosion remained uncertain, but Lebanon's Supreme Council of Defense stated that over 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored for six years at the warehouse where the explosion occurred, calling this "unacceptable." Multiple reports were issued in recent years urging for a solution to be found concerning the stored chemicals. My first impression of the Beirut incident was that we were dealing with an unconventional explosion caused by unconventional means. Any big explosion makes a mushroom cloud and a shockwave, nukes are just the most famous for it. Most explosions above a certain yield will result in the classic mushroom shape -- we just didn't have the technology to cause this frequently without nuclear weapons for quite some time.  Before the August 4 Beirut port explosion that devastated the heart of the Lebanese capital,  (1)>>Hezbollah commander Abu Karim was on edge at his post in the southern Lebanese hills, east of the ancient port city of Tyre. Tensions were high after a week of escalating Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Syria, and the Party of God was ready to retaliate on the Lebanese-Israeli border. So when the monumental blast occurred, panicked orders came from the top and the commander found himself on the radio, calling his fighters to battle stations and bringing Lebanon’s powerful militia to the brink of war with Israel. When asked about his depiction of the explosion at a White House briefing, US  (1.2)>>President Donald Trump said that he had met with some US generals who feel the blast was not "some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event." He told reporters that according to these unnamed generals "they seem to think it was an attack; it was a bomb of some kind." Lebanese officials have stressed that the investigation into the incident is ongoing and the exact cause of the explosion is unclear. First off, let's start with the obvious: I'm not a scientist, nor an explosives expert, nor anything even approximately close to the two. So take what follows with a grain of salt. In fact, probably a whole bag of salt. With that said, as one might expect, my inbox has been stuffed in the last two days with emails, videos, tweets, and so on, of that very large explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, that leveled a district of the city, sadly killed several people, and left many others -hundreds of thousands according to some reports (See https://www.zerohedge.com/health/300000-left-homeless-beirut-after-blast-collapsed-walls-1-mile-away), with devastated homes.  Everyone, myself included, found it too "unusual," for whatever reason, and offered their own speculations, and asked me for mine. I have to admit that I've watched several videos, and while my first thought after

Beirut blast was so huge , this map shows
what it would be like if it hit New York .
The shockwaves alone would be felt
for 10 miles .

seeing the earliest videos was "some kind of fuel air bomb," I spent much of yesterday afternoon watching other videos from different perspectives, and I am now not so inclined to take that view, though I still hold it out as a possibility. We'll get back to that. As of now, there are are two main theories: (1) The media is now reporting that the explosion was due to massive amounts of stored ammonia nitrate, as per this article from Zero Hedge which states that the amount was some 2750 tons, and that it was stored there for six years, implying that the explosion may have been an accident, or possibly, sabotage: 2) U.S. President Trump was briefed by the military, and their conclusion was that it was some sort of bomb.So we're left with where we began: accident, or deliberate act. The question is, if the latter, what kind?

  

Israeli Involvement Suspicions.

I was thinking about it. That the Israeli's may have bombed the Beirut port for many reasons, fighting terrorism? The Gray Zone for instance says:  "The narrative first debuted in the Israeli press after a June 2019 story in the British pro-Israel daily The Telegraph on  (2)>>alleged Hezbollah storage of the explosive around London. The Times of Israel introduced for the first time the much broader theme that Hezbollah planned to use the explosive for “huge, game-changing attacks on Israeli targets globally.” Next, “new details” appeared in the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth from “unnamed Israeli intelligence officials,” disclosing how Israel had supposedly stymied ammonium nitrate-based terror plots by Hezbollah in London, Cyprus, and Thailand." If they admitted it was the Israeli's, they'd have to do something about it or be seen as weak. BIG QUESTION if it was an accident, so Lebanon may prefer to say nothing rather than deal with civil unrest because what can they do? If the went to war with Israel they'd lose badly. In fact, any action against Israel, e.g. sanctions, boycott etc would probably hurt them a lot more than it would hurt Israel. Israel can do whatever they want really with impunity in the region. They have the best army AND nuclear weapons. The only restraint they have is their alliance with the US, if they go too far, they could hurt that support. In 2006 Israeli war jets bombed Beirut Hezbollah targets . Why do people seem to have this strong knee-jerk reaction towards the  (3)>>possibility that it could have been a foreign attack?Everything is still unclear but there are witnesses and video recording of what sounded very much like jets breaking the sound barrier right before the massive explosion...I've heard suggestions that it could have been pressure accumilating inside the facilty, but would that really produce this kind of sound?Have any experts on sonic booms and such weighed in from their knowledge? The question now is why was there all this ammonia nitrate for?I'm not usually for conspiracy theories, but IF this did involve external interference, what's easier than already having 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a critical port waiting for someone to take advantage of the situation. You don't even need a plane or a bomb. You just need to start a fire. Either way, it was a recipe for disaster. My condolences and best wishes to all the victims.  The problem is not so much ammonia nitrate, as leaving potentially dangerous substances unattended and unsecured for long periods of time in or near strategic infrastructure. This could have been a forgotten shipment of dynamite leaking out nitroglycerin over time, or any number of other substances that are safe to store in the short term, but over time end up turning into a mushroom cloud.  (4)>>In the six years since the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had arrived in Beirut’s port and been offloaded into Hangar 12, repeated warnings had ricocheted throughout the Lebanese government, between the port and customs authorities, three ministries, the commander of the Lebanese Army, at least two powerful judges and, weeks before the blast, the prime minister and president. No one took action to secure the chemicals, more than 1,000 times the amount used to bomb a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. It is impossible to know if this latest Beirut explosion will be any different than thousands of other bombings and attacks this country has witnessed that remain shrouded in mystery and allow each party to come up with their own convenient and politically profitable explanation. While it is easy to fall down the conspiracy rabbit hole, or claim it was just an "accident" caused by governmental dysfunction and incompetence, we should not be satisfied with simple and opportune explanations.

NOTES AND COMMENTS: 

(1)>>President Donald Trump said . Trump was asked why he called it an attack and not an accident, especially since Lebanese officials say they have not determined the cause of the explosion. He told reporters at the White House: “It would seem like it based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not a — some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of a event. ... They seem to think it was a attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes.” Now    there is that statement from President Trump that he was briefed by the Pentagon, and they were of the opinion it was a bomb of "some sort." The idea of a "bomb" suggests that there was more involved than just ammonia nitrate, or grain elevators, and the phrase "some sort" could imply that it was something "exotic", or that the generals briefing Trump were deliberately making it all up, and deliberately obfuscating the event with misinformation. Now come the my usual off the end of the twig high octane speculations.What if, indeed, Trump's generals are correct and it was a bomb "of some sort"? In spite of all the above arguments, the intuition still nags at me that the fuel-air bomb hypothesis might be true. After all, grain dust or even ammonia nitrate dust might act like a fuel air bomb. But what if we're looking at something quite different? (1)>>Hezbollah commander Abu Karim .  those "tales of Hezbollah ammonium nitrate" in Cyprus/Germany/London were false according to local police that would be correct and those 'tales' were israli propaganda. But since the "tales of Hezbollah ammonium nitrate" in Cyprus/Germany/London etc are true according to local police, and they did actually had ammonium nitrate in all those places, it means that this 'article' is Hezbollah's propaganda and misinformation.     (2)>>alleged Hezbollah storage of the explosive around London.   The Lebanese military discovered more than 4 tons of ammonium nitrate near Beirut's port on Thursday, a find that's a chilling reminder of the horrific explosion a month ago that killed 191 people.According to the military, army experts were called in for an inspection and found 4.35 tons of the dangerous chemical in four containers stored near the port. There were no details on the origin of the chemicals or their owner,The find comes almost exactly a month after nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut's port for six years detonated, wreaking death and destruction. (3)>>possibility that it could have been a foreign attack? You would hear the sound barrier breaking from a distance surely, who said the jets had to be extremely close to the target site? Are you just getting information out of your ass and claiming it as evidence? Btw, I don't know how familiar you are with the 2006 war, but when that happened you'd definitely hear jets approaching right before a bombing run occuring, that's undeniable, and rarely would anyone actually SEE them coming, civilians I mean. (4)>>In the six years since the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had arrived in Beirut’s port and been offloaded into Hangar 12. In September 2013, a Russian-leased cargo vessel loaded with ammonium nitrate heading to Mozambique reportedly made an unscheduled stop in Beirut due to financial and mechanical troubles. Lebanese officials, citing unpaid fees and safety concerns, prevented the vessel from sailing, leading to it being abandoned by its owner. The ship's dangerous cargo was then offloaded and placed in a hangar in the port. It appears to have remained there, untouched, until the devastating blast.