August 6, 2020
The massive explosion that rocked Lebanon completely obliterated the Port of Beirut. Although, officials did not say what caused the initial blaze that set off the blast, the Port of Beirut has been caught in a covert war brewing in Lebanon for sometime. Commentators on the Levant have long been warning that it could be a flashpoint for the next Lebanon war – that flashpoint is the disputed resource-rich maritime territory known as Block 9.
Igor Grechushkin – the Russian businessman
On 4th August 2020, powerful explosions rocked Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The explosion was linked to 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse since 2014. It was confiscated from an abandoned ship MV Rhosus belonging to a Cyprus-based Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin.
The explosive power of the blast added up to approximately 240 tons of TNT, according to one estimate shared online by a nuclear expert. By comparison, the yield of a MOAB, the largest conventional bomb, is ~11 tons TNT equivalent.
A security source stated it was caused during welding work on a hole in a warehouse. However, the US President Donald Trump suggested that it was an attack caused by a bomb.
“I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that this was not some kind of manufacturing explosion type of an event. They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.”
Although, officials did not say what caused the initial blaze that set off the blast, the Port of Beirut has been caught in a covert war brewing in Lebanon for sometime. Commentators on the Levant have long been warning that it could be a flashpoint for the next Lebanon war – that flashpoint is the disputed resource-rich maritime territory known as Block 9.
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