Beirut, Lebanon’s capital witnessed a massive explosion in centrally located port warehouses killing at least a hundred and injuring 4000 people. Its impact was widespread up to 240 Km, which the residents mistook it for an earthquake. The blast sent a seismic wave across Beirut cracking the glasses and doors of the houses of the locals. Buildings collapsed, people being rescued stuck in the rubble, capital covered in a blanket of smoke was not a sight people wanted to witness especially when the Covid infections are at surge and the city not being able to cope up with the medical prerequisites. Along with that, trial over the killing of ex- Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 had increased the tensions due to the verdict on Friday.
The technical know how
According Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab 2,750 metric tons of Ammonium Nitrate had been stored in warehouses unsafely six years ago from a ship which was impounded earlier. Ammonium Nitrate, used as a fertilizer is not very self-combustible. Acting as an oxidizer, it uses other substances to ignite and then thereby intensifying combustion, instigates an explosion. According to the sources, a combination of black and red smoke is an incomplete reaction as it is difficult to ignite Ammonium Nitrate without the presence of immense heat. Ammonium Nitrate releases a toxic gas which include Ammonia gas and Nitrogen oxides to which the U.S. embassy in Beirut urged the residents to where masks and stay indoors.
International Support
Along with the support of the West including the United States, Britain and France, the Gulf countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran also did not hesitate to extend their support to Lebanon on humanitarian grounds leaving aside the rivalry simmering since years.
A theory also suggests that the blast took place three days prior to the verdict which needs to be delivered by a UN backed court in the trial of Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah, suspected in the 2005 bombing killing former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and 21 others, however, the officials claimed that they are yet to deliver the complete breakthrough behind the whole catastrophe.
