What Just Blew Up In Beirut?

bellingcat.com ^ | 8-4-2020 | Nick Waters

[servo1969]

Shortly before 6 PM Beirut time reports began flooding Twitter of a fire and a series of explosions in Beirut. It rapidly became evident that event was far more than a small industrial fire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx8WQqUGk1M

-----snip------

Conclusion
From the available information it is clear that shortly before 6 PM in Beirut a fire and series of explosions at the docks in Beirut set off a gigantic explosion, the effects of which were felt as far away as Cyprus. Damage is widespread around the city and thousands are reported to have been wounded. The epicenter of the blast appears to have been the warehouse at 33.901353, 35.518835, and while the official explanation has yet to be confirmed, multiple sources on information point towards a shipment of 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been sitting in the port since 2013.

[ThunderSleeps]

I guess they no longer need to worry about what to do with it. They have that going for them.

Yep. If you put off a decision long enough eventually some one or some thing comes along and takes it out of your hands. Lesson learned, the hard way.

[Manly Warrior]

No, AN. Commonly has that red cloud effect as incomplete deflagration of some of the mass.

[BwanaNdege]

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fertilizer-explosion-kills-581-in-texas

“By 9 a.m., flames had erupted from the hold and within minutes it exploded. The blast was heard 150 miles away and was so powerful that the ship’s 1.5- ton anchor was found two miles away. “

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

“The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, Texas, at Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of history’s largest non-nuclear explosions.”

[silverleaf]

Carlos thread 1
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1290748019218853890.html

Carlos thread 2
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1290776857357344768.html

Carlos thread 3
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1290807851053506561.html

[bert]

Well, well....... the facts come to light.

Thanks for that

[mad_as_he$$]

I worked on farms in my ute. We used AN extensively as fertilizer. In retrospect I probably should of been more careful with the stuff.

Later in life we experimented with it's properties. It is not all that easy to trigger and expolosopn. That is why it used in mining in hugh and series quantities.. My bet is that we will never know what triggered this event.

[BwanaNdege]

“It boils down to what detonator with adequate explosive energy was used to set off relatively stable ammonium nitrate?”

“Akbar & Sons - Making Quality IEDs for Hezbollah since 1985” shop located next door to the Ammonium Nitrate warehouse?

[D Rider]

That actually is a good bet. Middle eastern court cases routinely run a decade and many times 2.

[cornfedcowboy]

I’ve been hearing about fireworks from the beginning. It sure appears to be fireworks going off during the fire just previous to the major blast.

[ptsal]

Location for the curious:
  https://plus.codes 8G5QWG29+GH
   33.901313,35.518937

Historical info also at Wikipedia on the Port of Beirut.

[sauropod]

bkmk for later study.

[Always A Marine]

I think the fireworks story was used to explain the red cloud. That ammonium nitrate wouldn’t.

You are correct; ammonium nitrate deglagration produced ash-colored smoke. The reddish-brown smoke comes from High Melting Explosive, also called Octogen - which is rocket fuel. The four ingredients of HMX are hexamine, ammonium nitrate, nitric acid and acetic acid. All those rockets fired on Israel come from somewhere and are fueled by something. "Some things happened" to an Iranian ammunition warehouse and/or ammunition factory.

[Yo-Yo]

Not an expert, but doesn’t Ammonium Nitrate require diesel (or fuel oil) mixed in with it before it becomes an ANFO bomb?

[cbvanb]

We used to use ammonium nitrate for blasting on the farm. It comes in 2 forms, coated and uncoated. The coating was developed to make the substance more stable, and we mixed diesel fuel with the ammonium nitrate to break down the coating. It didn’t actually improve the function of the ammonium nitrate. What I remember most is even with a bread bag of the fertilizer it took a full stick of dynamite to initiate the larger explosive. Something about this story doesn’t add up.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

Your tinfoil is on too tight

[Yo-Yo]

[Rebelbase]

Seems like an impractical way to expand the harbor.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

In all fairness, see the “Texas City Disaster” for more info.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

Bottom line, don’t store very large amounts of Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer in hot places during a heat wave.

[logi_cal869]

Or if rocket fuel was stored in the same warehouse in shipping containers.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/162492

The detonation looked much more like >5000 m/s than 2000 m/s ammonium nitrate.

Ala Pepcon. The color of the cloud is a clue.

[Justa]

Good analysis.

But of course it cannot explain the cratering. Concrete burns at 1642C and vaporizes at 1932C far in excess of 210C. So it’s rather obvious this was produced with a tactical nuke perpetrated by the nefarious juice.

/S