Generational Dynamics World View

[John J. Xenakis]

*** 22-Aug-20 World View -- Hezbollah implicated in catastrophic Beirut Lebanon explosion

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Media investigations reveal new facts about the Beirut Lebanon explosion
  
• Investigation implicates Hezbollah in explosion
  

****
**** Media investigations reveal new facts about the Beirut Lebanon explosion
****


A man stands near the Beirut blast site on August 11. Graffiti reads 'My government did this' (Reuters)

Ever since the catastrophic explosion in the Beirut, Lebanon, seaport
on Tuesday, August 4, leveled thousands of homes, killed and injured
thousands of people, and left 300,000 people homeless, Sayyed Hasan
Nasrallah, the Iranian puppet leader of the Lebanese terror group
Hezbollah, has been running as fast as he can in the other direction,
to avoid being blamed. ( "9-Aug-20 World View -- Beirut Lebanon police clash with furious protesters following Tuesday's catastrophic explosion"
)

At first, Nasrallah insisted he knew nothing about the 2,750 tonnes of
ammonium nitrate that exploded, after being stored in the port
unprotected since 2013, in a warehouse next door to a fireworks
factory. Then he tried to blame Israel. Then, when a furious public
demanded an international investigation, he insisted that any
investigation could only be done locally -- that is, controlled by
Hezbollah.

Nasrallah is still doing everything possible to prevent an official
international investigation by the United Nations or by the European
Union, but unfortunately for him, he has no way to stop unofficial
investigations by media or other private parties.

An investigation conducted by the German magazine Der Spiegel and the
journalism network called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project (OCCRP) has revealed that Hezbollah fingerprints are all over
the explosion, and that the storage of the ammonium nitrate in the
first place was under Hezbollah control.

****
**** Investigation implicates Hezbollah in explosion
****

As I detailed in my August 9 article, the "official" narrative has
been that a Moldovan-flagged, Russian-owned cargo ship, the MV Rhosus,
carrying 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, left Georgia in 2013 heading
for Mozambique, but stopped in Beirut because of technical problems,
and because the owner could not afford the fees to pass through the
Suez Canal. The ship was impounded in Beirut, but despite repeated
requests and warnings of danger from customs officials, the Beirut
courts refused to permit the ammonium nitrate to be removed or sold.

The investigation by Spiegel and OCCRP revealed numerous flaws and
problems with the official narrative:

• The Rhosus was actually owned by the Cypriot businessman
  Charalambos Manoli, not by a Russian.
  
  
• Manoli used a variety of subterfuges to hide his ownership of the
  Rhosus from the Lebanese authorities.
  
  
• Manoli had a major relationship with a bank known to launder money
  for Hezbollah, and Manoli owed millions of dollars to this bank.
  
  
• The Rhosus stopped in Beirut because Manoli ordered the crew
  to stop in Beirut.
  
  
• An investigation in Mozambique failed to find any evidence that
  the Rhosus ever had Mozambique as a destination. It appears that
  Beirut was always the intended final destination.
  
  
• An inspection of the ammonium nitrate in spring 2020 raised doubts
  that all 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were still there. Based on
  the size of the explosion, European intelligence officials believe it
  was between 700 and 1,000 tonnes. So what happened to the
  rest?

The Hezbollah militia has an iron grip on Beirut, especially on
the Beirut seaport. So one possibility is that in 2013 Hezbollah
ordered the delivery of the ammonium nitrate, and has been using
it for weapons and explosives in Syria and elsewhere since then.

There are other possibilities as well. That's why it's most important
for an international investigation to determine what actually
happened. Even though Hezbollah will do everything possible to block
any such investigation, it's only a matter of time before all the
facts come out.

In any case, this crisis isn't over, and won't be for years.

Sources:

• Shipowner Linked to Hezbollah's Bank? Questions Swirl around the Cargo that Destroyed Beirut (Der Spiegel, Berlin, 21-Aug-2020)
  
• A Hidden Tycoon, African Explosives, and a Loan from a Notorious Bank: Questionable Connections Surround Beirut Explosion Shipment (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), 21-Aug-2020)

Related Article:

• Beirut Lebanon police clash with furious protesters following Tuesday's catastrophic explosion (09-Aug-2020)
  
  
• Lebanon: A country in free fall (17-Jul-2020)
  

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Lebanon, Beirut, ammonium nitrate, fertilizer,
Iran, Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Charalambos Manoli,
Mozambique, Georgia

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John J. Xenakis
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