The article below was originally meant to be published on August 4th.
On Tuesday August 4, 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon, a colossal explosion at the Port of Beirut, one of the busiest in Lebanon sent a mini seismic wave across the coastal city that could be felt outside the city and even 200 kilometers away in Cyprus. The country of Cyprus sits in the Mediterrenan west of mainland Lebanon and Syria. The explosion killed 100+ people and injured thousands and have 300, 000 people homeless. The explosion is not terrorism nor a political assassination. It most likely fertilizer (Ammonia nitrate) stored in a warehouse since 2013. The fertilizer came from a Russian cargo ship Rhosus originally sailing in 2013 from the Republic of Georgia to Mozambique in South eastern Africa when it malfunctioned near Beirut. Once hearing of the malfunction from the unscheduled stop, the owner of Rhosus, Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin declared bankruptcy and had since been mum on abandoning his ship at Beirut and any responsibility to the ship's crew members including the captain. Grechuskin also lives in Cyprus. The former sea captain of Rhosus Boris Prokoshev was also shocked to discover his ship had been carrying explosive ingredients. Prokoshev was part of the three men ship crew that was stuck on the ship in Beirut's port for 11 month due to Lebanon's immigration restrictions. A Portugese owned explosives company based in Mozambique was awaiting the 2, 750 tons of fertilizer for mining operations in country. Mozambique along with South Africa and Botswana are major mining countries within the Southern African region. Originally fireworks was blamed for the explosion as 2000 tons of fireworks left in factories have been known to cause seismic destruction if not properly stored. Both fertilizer and fireworks are ingredients for bombs and explains why several city blocks were leveled along with the storage building which was actually cement kilns.
Parts of Beirut's famed residential districts of Achrafieh, Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael were hollowed out by the blast. Many ordinary Lebanese are asking why were dangerous and toxic chemicals were left at the port in such a populated city. As the mushroom cloud sent toxic ash and glass into the air and water, it also turned glass from Beirut's city center buildings into shrapnel, overturned cars and left Beirutis bloodied. Buildings closer to the epicenter have been damaged and leveled. Keep in mind this is occurring in the middle of the Coronavirus lockdown in Lebanon. People outside of Beirut could hear the explosion assuming it was an earthquake. Some Lebanese are saying that this is the worst destruction the city and Lebanon has seen in years. This includes people who survived the civil war, 2006 Israeli war and the recent ongoing political tensions and Lebanon's economic collapse. The famed coastal city is still in a state of shock by both the mini mushroom blast and the fire that preceded the mushroom cloud and the kilometers or miles long damage it caused. The city center of Beirut is a few kilometers away from the port. Perhaps a coincidence, a tribunal announcing the verdict on the Assassination of Rafik Harrir in 2005, was supposed to be given in two days prior to the explosion. The Lebanese understand the irony of the explosion too well. If the explosion is an industrial accident which appears to be the case, it would follow a long line of factory explosions in other parts of the world ie Tultepec, Mexico and Granada, Colombia fireworks explosions and Toulouse fertilizer explosion in 2001. The explosion has caused both anxiety, confusion, gray skies. The cause of the explosion is still being investigated. Already, the manchild in chief, Donald Trump suggests that the explosion might be a "bomb of some kind." Remember Trump lacks analytical thinking or in depth knowledge on Lebanon/Middle East in general. His worldview of the region is based on orientalist stereotypes and Christian Zionism.
Beirut is famous for being the cosmopolitan, hip and tourist city and unofficial media capital in the Middle East with a famous nightlife. Despite its long history with swinging between war and peace, the Lebanese capital has managed to bounce back from dark days. The city today relies on tourism. Beirut was once known as the "Paris of the Middle East" prior to the Lebanese Civil War in 1970s. It appears each time Beirut is on the verge of completing reconstruction and new projects, it is rocked (apologies for the pun) by another dark day of shock and destruction. As a side note, Lebanon also imports 80% of its food.
Economic squeeze had already started Lebanon
The industrial explosion has come to symbolize the physical manifestation of Lebanese people's boiling frustration with the Lebanese government at large. The ongoing economic choas and the continual devaluation of the Lebanese pound since October 2019 not mention that half of all Lebanese are unemployment had driven thousands if not millions of Lebanese into the streets in Beirut and elswhere across the country. The country was already in a recession with sporadic protests against the ongoign neoliberal measures taken by Saad Hariri's government including privatization of public lands including communal beaches, funds being diverted from citizen taxes to government, never ending government corruption, austerity measures, disappearance of the state from providing social services not only in Beirut and other parts of the country, the ongoing pile up of garbage and lack of sanitation in Beirut itself. The lack of empathy for the unemployed and poor Lebanese. Not to mention that Lebanon is hosting some 2 million Palestinian refugees since 1948 and Syrian refugees since 2011 Syrian Revolution turned civil war and proxy war. When the industrial explosion occurred, it was the final nail in the coffin of Lebanon's spider web of social woes and the people's frustration. Saad Hariri, the former Lebanese President stepped down in 2019 to appease the March 8 and March 14 alliances. The current Prime Minister Hassan Diab is also facing calls to step down after the explosion despite bringing in a technocratic government to address Lebanon's ailing socieconomic problems. But the ongoing woes and santiation problems still persist around the country.
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