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Islamic World News ( 7 Aug 2020, NewAgeIslam.Com)

Beirut Explosion Had 10 Pct. Of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb’s Explosive Power: UK Experts

New Age Islam News Bureau

7 Aug 2020

This picture taken on August 4, 2020 shows a general view of the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut. (AFP)

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• Turkey Still A Major Hub for ISIS Militants, Inspector General’s Report Says

• Al-Qaeda Influence Growing in North-West Nigeria, United States Warns

• US Action Against IS Financier Shows Jihadists’ Cash Flow Continues from Turkey

• Labour MP Calls on UK To Intervene in Kashmir, Says Obliged to By Partition

• I Don’t Discriminate As CM, but as Hindu Won’t Attend Mosque Event: Yogi

• Stop Using Anti-Corruption Agency to Harass Opponents: Rights Body to Pak

Arab world

• Beirut Explosion Had 10 Pct. Of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb’s Explosive Power: UK Experts

• Beirut blast aftermath recalls Lebanon’s civil war: MSF head

• Rescue Operations Continue in Lebanon's Capital as Death Toll Continues to Climb

• Beirut explosion: Destroyed port used as quarantine centre long before coronavirus

• UNICEF estimates 80,000 children displaced after Beirut explosion

• Sixteen arrested in connection with Beirut blasts: State-run news agency

• Lebanon's Gebran Bassil warns Macron of refugees 'your way' if Lebanon collapses

• After Beirut explosion, Lebanese American politicians stand with Lebanon

• Beirut explosion: Crowd on street urges Macron to help oust Lebanon’s leadership

• Pro-Iran militias continue hitting military bases in Iraq

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Mideast

• Turkey Still A Major Hub for ISIS Militants, Inspector General’s Report Says

• Iran's Top Commander Offers Condolence to Nasrallah, Lebanese Army Commander

• Iran, Lebanon Review Ways to Aid Injured People in Beirut

• Iran's EC Chairman Urges Islamic States to Help Lebanon

• Iran: US Should Show Honesty in Sympathy to Lebanon by Lifting Sanctions

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Africa

• Al-Qaeda Influence Growing in North-West Nigeria, United States Warns

• Mediator S. Africa urges talks to continue on Ethiopia’s Nile dam

• Victims of Suspected Boko Haram Attack on Cameroon IDP Camp Need Urgent Help

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North America

• US Action Against IS Financier Shows Jihadists’ Cash Flow Continues from Turkey

• US Iran envoy Brian Hook standing down, Elliott Abrams to take on the role

• Democrats refuse to condemn Antifa in domestic terrorism hearing, Andy Ngo says

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Europe

• Labour MP Calls on UK To Intervene in Kashmir, Says Obliged to By Partition

• Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Chief Warns New Attack On London Is 'Likely' After Lockdown

• European politicians urge swift crackdown on Qatar’s funding of Hezbollah: Fox News

• Cyprus to boost defense ties with France in new deal amid Turkey tensions

• French President Macron’s visit touches a chord in shellshocked Beirut

• European body criticizes prison conditions in Turkey

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India

• I Don’t Discriminate As CM, but as Hindu Won’t Attend Mosque Event: Yogi

• Secretary Jilani withdraws AIMPLB's 'irresponsibly worded' statement on Ayodhya

• Wooing Muslim Vote-bank? Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Stays Silent On Ram Temple Bhoomi Pujan

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Pakistan

• Stop Using Anti-Corruption Agency to Harass Opponents: Rights Body to Pak

• HRW urges govt to stop using NAB to detain critics

• Discussion on Kashmir at UNSC meeting, another diplomatic success for Pakistan: FM

• FO defends Qureshi’s remarks on Saudi-led OIC over Kashmir

• Parliament rejects changing of Kashmir’s special status

• Parliament okays another FATF-related law

• TikTok upgrades guidelines, releases Urdu version

• Pakistan once again asks India to appoint lawyer for Kulbhushan Jadhav

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South Asia

• Nikpa, The First Winner of Olympics Medal for Afghanistan To Be Featured in Hollywood Movie

• Pompeo reacts to holding of Loya Jirga to discuss peace process in Afghanistan

• Afghan forces arrest top ISIS leader in Kunar province of Afghanistan

• Ten Taliban insurgents clash with Afghan troops after ceasefire ends

• At Least 11 Killed In Roadside Bombing In Northern Afghanistan

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Southeast Asia

• China: We Don’t Agree with US in Pushing for Extension of Iran Arms Embargo

• Perlis Tells Muslims To Perform Friday Prayers at Home As Covid-19 Menaces Region Anew

• High Court calls for further submissions over Sabah election challenge

• Muhyiddin, 3 others win bid to quash suit by Dr M and co

• Minister: Govt to consider proposal to require fire drills for tahfiz schools

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/beirut-explosion-had-10-pct/d/122573

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Beirut Explosion Had 10 Pct. Of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb’s Explosive Power: UK Experts

06 August 2020

This picture taken on August 4, 2020 shows a general view of the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut. (AFP)

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The deadly explosion at the Port of Beirut had approximately 10 percent of the explosive power of the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II, UK specialists estimate.

Tuesday’s explosion in Lebanon which has killed at least 137 people and injured more than 5,000 was "unquestionably one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history,” specialists at UK’s University of Sheffield Blast and Impact Engineering Research Group said, according to the BBC.

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the explosion was due to a stockpile of 2,750 tons of the industrial chemical ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers and explosives, catching fire after having been stored for six years at the port without safety measures.

“This is unquestionably one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, far bigger than any conventional weapon,” Sheffield’s professor Andrew Tyas, an expert on blast protection engineering, told the Evening Standard.

The Beirut blast’s shockwaves smashed masonry, shattered windows, sucked furniture out of apartments onto the streets and left up to a quarter of a million people without homes fit to live in, Lebanese officials said.

“The intensity of the shockwave is equivalent to 20 to 30 percent of the shockwave caused by Hiroshima. It’s astonishing,” Tyas told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.

The Beirut blast was felt in Cyprus, a Mediterranean island more than 160 kilometers across the sea from the Lebanese capital.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1964 was a 4,536-kilogram uranium 235 bomb. It exploded approximately 600 meters above the center of the city and instantly killed 78,000 people.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/06/Beirut-explosion-had-10-pct-of-Hiroshima-atomic-bomb-s-explosive-power-UK-experts.html

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Turkey Still A Major Hub for ISIS Militants, Inspector General’s Report Says

August 5, 2020

U.S. and Turkish military forces conduct a joint ground patrol in northeast Syria in September 2019. U.S. European Command said in an Inspector General report released Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, that Turkey is still a transit hub for Islamic State group fighters and weapons, even though the NATO ally is doing more to stop the group than it once did.

ALEC DIONNE/U.S. ARMY

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Turkey continues to be a regional transit hub for the Islamic State group, even though the NATO ally has recently stepped up efforts to counter attempts to smuggle ISIS fighters and weaponry into war-torn Syria, a new Inspector General’s report says.

In a report released Tuesday by the Lead Inspector General for the military’s mission in Syria and Iraq, U.S. European Command called Turkey a “major facilitation hub” for ISIS and said security at the country’s southern borders with Syria and Iraq continues to be a problem.

Turkey has been criticized for years by Western allies for failing to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, something critics have said contributed to the initial rise of ISIS in the region. But in recent months, Ankara has dealt more aggressively with ISIS within its borders and inside Syria, EUCOM said in the report.

Operations launched by Turkey against ISIS have impacted the group’s ability to smuggle fighters, funds and supplies, EUCOM told the IG. However, the difficulty of securing Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq will likely ensure that the extremist group will be able to continue moving supplies and fighters from one country to another, the report said.

Although the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq and Syria has pushed ISIS out of what used to be its major strongholds in the large swath of territory it once held in the two countries, the terrorist group remained active in the region, it said.

Attacks by ISIS surged from late April to late May during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and the terrorist group has exploited restrictions placed on security forces because of the coronavirus pandemic to conduct even more attacks, the Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve said in the report.

But a year-to-year comparison of attack numbers, and the complexity and consequences of those attacks,”indicate that ISIS is not resurging,” CJTF-OIR said.

ISIS relies mainly on small-scale local attacks and is “most likely” unable to lead operations outside of Iraq and Syria, the Defense Intelligence Agency said in the report.

While there is no evidence that ISIS has the ability to retake or hold territory in areas where the U.S.-led coalition operates, the report said defeating ISIS in areas like Syria, where coalition and partner forces have limited reach, remains a challenge.

https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/turkey-still-a-major-hub-for-isis-militants-ig-report-says-1.640095?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1418800_

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Al-Qaeda Influence Growing In North-West Nigeria, United States Warns

AUG 05, 2020

Al-Qaeda insurgent group is gaining sway in the restive North-Western part of Nigeria, the United States of America has warned.

Dagvin Anderson, Commander of the US Special Operations Command, Africa, disclosed this during a briefing, saying the group was also expanding to other parts of West Africa.

He said, "We have engaged with Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding what these violent extremists are doing. And that has been absolutely critical to their engagements in Borno State and into an emerging area of North-West Nigeria that we’re seeing al-Qaida starting to make some inroads in.

“So, this intelligence sharing is absolutely vital and we stay fully engaged with the Government of Nigeria to provide them an understanding of what these terrorists are doing, what Boko Haram is doing, what ISIS West Africa is doing, and how ISIS and al-Qaida are looking to expand further south into the littoral areas.

“I think there’s two factors in that. One, it goes to that each government has to focus on this and provide that focus for international partners to engage with. The other part of this is we can’t underestimate the threat these violent extremist organisations pose. We, as a community of international nations, keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.

“I think after 20 years we have seen they are very resilient organisations that, although small, they’re able to leverage social media and other forms of media to have an outsized voice and that they continue to recruit and they continue to find opportunities. When it comes to Nigeria in general, Nigeria, obviously, is a critical nation to West Africa. It is a critical nation and we realise that Nigeria is a lynchpin.

”For that to have an effect against the VEOs and to have an effect against these stressors, it really takes the Government of Nigeria to lead that effort and to build that energy to coalesce around. So no nation can come in and fix that problem for Nigeria. We can assist with that – and it’s the United States can assist, the United Kingdom, other countries can come in, many countries can come and assist with that partnership – but ultimately it takes leadership from Nigeria in order for us to focus our efforts.”

http://saharareporters.com/2020/08/05/al-qaeda-influence-growing-north-west-nigeria-united-states-warns?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1418800_

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US Action Against IS Financier Shows Jihadists’ Cash Flow Continues from Turkey

By Namo Abdulla

August 05, 2020

WASHINGTON - The U.S. designation last week of a new Turkey-based member of the notorious Rawi Network for allegedly facilitating money transfers to the Islamic State (IS) in Syria has raised fresh concerns among observers that jihadists continue to use Turkey to fund their activities in Syria.

The Rawi Network, founded by an Iraqi family, has been known to the U.S. government for decades. In the 1990s, it was accused of using informal payment systems to help Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq evade international sanctions by buying and selling oil without reliance on formal banking systems.

The Rawis returned to the spotlight in November 2019 when the U.S. Department of the Treasury blacklisted six of their members who had operated companies in Iraq, Turkey and Belgium. The companies, registered as everyday money exchange and transfer businesses, were used to provide a mechanism for IS’s global sympathizers to fund the extremist group’s operations in Iraq and Syria.

Last Tuesday, the Treasury sanctioned another man in the family named Adnan Muhammad Amin al-Rawi and described him as an IS facilitator in Turkey.

“Al-Rawi has materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support” for IS, according to the Treasury statement, adding that the radical group’s former finance emir, Fawaz al-Rawi, who was reportedly killed in a 2017 coalition airstrike, belonged to the same family.

While the Rawis have long been a familiar name to governments, analysts say the most recent designation raises questions on why they have continued to be able to operate in Turkey as a member of the U.S.-led Counter ISIS Finance Group (CIFG). The Turkish government did not reply to VOA’s requests for comment on the matter.

“These designations targeting the Rawi Network and others reflect the extent to which various jihadist groups have exploited Turkey’s permissive environment,” said Aykan Erdemir, a former Turkish lawmaker who is currently a Turkey expert with Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

“Turkey is the only NATO member state that has repeatedly become a target of Treasury sanctions, a sign that Ankara is either negligent or lenient in its treatment of jihadist entities and individuals,” Erdemir added.

In April 2019, the Treasury sanctioned four Turkish companies for providing financial support to IS.

Last Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called for vigilance among U.S. allies.

“Together with our CIFG partners, we must remain vigilant to ensure that the global remnants of this terrorist group do not regain a foothold,” Mnuchin said.

Hawala money transfer

The recent U.S. designation also targets 30-year-old Faruq Hamud, who allegedly used a hawala money transfer business in Syria’s al-Hol refugee camp to fund jihadists. Al-Hol is under the control of U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the country’s northeast.

Similar to the U.S.-based Western Union financial services company, hawala is a popular informal remittance method used within and among cash-based countries throughout the Middle East. It depends on a network of connected agents who can ensure thousands of dollars travel beyond borders in minutes.

SDF did not respond to VOA’s questions on whether it was aware of Hamud’s alleged illicit activities in the camp in Syria’s Hasakah province near the Iraqi border.

An effective U.S. ground partner against IS in Syria, SDF has repeatedly complained that it does not have adequate resources to maintain proper security of the camp, calling on governments to take back their citizens among the camp’s 11,000 family members of foreign jihadist fighters.

Camp smuggling

The al-Hol camp also accommodates nearly 60,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from other parts of Syria and some refugees from Iraq. Camp authorities say they have physically separated IS family members from the rest of the camp’s residents.

There are at least two hawala offices that openly conduct business in the non-IS section of the camp, but money often gets smuggled from those offices to IS family members as well, according Thomas McClure, a Syria-based researcher with Rojava Information Center.

“The foreign women aren't allowed to receive money,” McClure said, “but when they want to receive money, the Syrian and Iraqi people get it from the hawala offices in the Souq [a market in the camp] and give it to them for a cut for smuggling them.”

Some of the IS families reportedly receive outside donations that amount to more than $3,000 a month, while an average family in the camp spends one-tenth of that amount, according to a report published by North Press Agency, a local news site.

Hawala also provides a useful means of sending humanitarian support to IDPs and refugees, say some analysts. While banning them outright is not advised, experts say the business can be regulated in a way that prevents IS access to outside donations.

“The hawala money transfer system is crucial to remain open for the women to be able to purchase what they need for their families,” Anne Speckhard, director of the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE), who has visited the al-Hol camp for research, told VOA.

“But it should be regulated so large sums are not transferred,” she added. “Likewise, large sums make it very possible to bribe those receiving the money and those who would smuggle the women out.”

https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/us-action-against-financier-shows-jihadists-cash-flow-continues-turkey?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1418800_

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Labour MP calls on UK to intervene in Kashmir, says obliged to by Partition

Aug 6, 2020

LONDON: A British Labour MP has written to UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab urging him to “honour Britain’s obligations to the Kashmiri people” and to call on the Indian government “to recognise that Kashmir is a disputed territory” in a letter in which she brazenly brands the region as “Indian-occupied Kashmir”.

In the extraordinary intervention, Zarah Sultana, an MP of PoK origin who represents Coventry South, said that Britain had laid the groundwork “for the oppression that the Kashmiris face to this day” by overseeing Partition and has a special obligation to “right these wrongs”.

“The Indian government unilaterally revoked Articles 370 and 35a, which had granted Indian-occupied Kashmir autonomy reflective of its status as an occupied territory,” she wrote on Wednesday, the first anniversary of the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, using Pakistani terminology to describe the Union Territory.

She urged the foreign secretary to call on the Indian government to end what she alleged were “human rights abuses in the region and the communications blackout” and for the Kashmiri people’s “right to self-determination, as mandated by UN Resolution 47, to be respected”.

“There are fears the Indian government is seeking to further dispossess the Kashmiri people, with residency and land ownership claims... in spite of the region being still a disputed territory,” she wrote.

Her missive comes just as Indian authorities in London were breathing a sign of relief that no Labour MPs attended the “Kashmir lockdown” protest outside the UK diplomatic mission on Wednesday, an event which attracted barely a few hundred Pakistani- and PoK-origin protesters, despite a call going out via mosques.

Indian diplomats thought the lack of Labour presence — unlike last year — demonstrated how Labour better understood India's position under its centre-left leader, Keir Starmer. No Pakistani leaders flew in to attend either.

“It is telling that the crowd last year was led on the ground by a minister of the government of Pakistan,” a spokesperson for the Indian high commission said.

Although Starmer is trying to repair relations with India, which have been damaged by Labour’s perceived anti-India stance on Kashmir, Starmer has a fight on his hands within his party.

On Wednesday Indian-origin Labour MP Tan Dhesi tweeted endorsement of a Guardian article by Arundhati Roy which states that Kashmir is facing “cultural erasure” now that Indians have a right of residence.

Last month a far-left faction of Labour, Momentum Camden, passed a motion calling for a vote of no confidence in Starmer citing a list of six grievances, the second of which was that he had “reversed the overwhelming vote at the annual party conference against the occupation of Kashmir, giving free rein to... imposition of martial law and spreading persecution of Muslims in India”.

“This is just Momentum trying to stir things up,” a Labour source said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/labour-mp-calls-on-uk-to-intervene-in-kashmir-says-obliged-to-by-partition/articleshow/77400227.cms

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I Don’t Discriminate As CM, But as Hindu Won’t Attend Mosque Event: Yogi

Aug 7, 2020

LUCKNOW: Hours after the ‘bhoomi pujan’ for the Ram temple on Wednesday, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, when asked if he would attend a similar function for the construction of the mosque in Ayodhya, turned the question on its head, wondering whether he would even be invited for it in the first place.

“Do you think I will be invited for a ground-breaking ceremony for the mosque? I don’t think it is a problem for me as much as it is for them. Therefore, I don’t have any dilemma about it,” he said in interviews to three TV channels.

He later clarified that as a CM, he did not distinguish between religions, castes and communities but as a yogi, as a Hindu, he would not go for such an event since he had the right to express himself in following his religion.

The CM praised Iqbal Ansari, one of the main litigants from the Muslim side, for having accepted the SC’s decision on the Ayodhya dispute. “People should take inspiration from him.It is a reflection on our democratic system that as a Muslim, he felt safe in Ayodhya while fighting his case. Would a Hindu feel safe in Pakistan or Afghanistan if he was fighting for a temple?”

He said that “pseudo secularism” had become the basis for terrorism, riots and naxalism in the country and for opposing Hindus and added that the temple movement had unmasked “pseudo secularism”. Holding Congress responsible for the prolonged dispute over the Ram temple, Yogi said the “divisiveness” it had created suited the party.

Yogi said one may change one’s way of worshipping but can’t change the ancestor. He said critics in India needed to learn from foreign nations like Muslim-dominated Indonesia, whose people participate in the Deepotsav programme in Ayodhya every year. “Majority of the performers are Muslim and when I asked them about it, they said they have the right to practise their religion but whatever religion they might follow, they cannot change their ancestors,” he said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/i-dont-discriminate-as-cm-but-as-hindu-wont-attend-mosque-event-yogi/articleshow/77404198.cms

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Stop using anti-corruption agency to harass opponents: Rights body to Pak

Aug 6, 2020

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged Pakistani authorities to stop using the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), for harassment and intimidation of opponents.

In a statement, the international non-governmental organization that investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world, said Pakistani authorities should follow a recent Supreme Court decision and cease using the NAB to detain critics of the government.

The authorities, the HRW said, should investigate and prosecute NAB officials responsible for unlawful arrests and other abuses.

In an 87-page decision, the Pakistan Supreme Court had on July 20 ruled that the NAB had violated the rights to fair trial and due process in the arrest of two Opposition politicians — Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Salman Rafique — who were detained for 15 months without reasonable grounds. The court granted them bail and criticized the NAB for showing “utter disregard to the law, fair play, equity and propriety”. The court ruled that the “case was a classic example of trampling of fundamental rights (and) unlawful deprivation of freedom.”

“The Supreme Court judgment is just the latest indictment of the NAB’s unlawful behavior,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW. “Pakistani authorities should stop using a dictatorship-era body, possessing draconian and arbitrary powers, to intimidate and harass opponents.”

Citing a February report by the European Commission, the SC had in its ruling criticized the NAB for being biased, noting that “very few cases of the ruling party ministers and politicians have been pursued since the 2018 elections, which is considered to be a reflection of NAB’s partiality”.

“Pakistani authorities should uphold the government’s human rights obligations,” Adams said, adding that Pakistan’s parliament should carry out urgent reforms to make the anti-corruption body independent.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/stop-using-anti-corruption-agency-to-harass-opponents-rights-body-to-pak/articleshow/77399109.cms

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Arab world

Beirut blast aftermath recalls Lebanon’s civil war: MSF head

August 07, 2020

PARIS: With some 300,000 people left homeless by the massive explosion in Beirut, and fears of food and medicine shortages, MSF on Thursday likened the humanitarian fallout to that of Lebanon’s civil war.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) President Mego Terzian said that after the initial rush to treat the injured, the next priority would be to provide food and shelter for the destitute.

“Another priority will be taking care of people with chronic illnesses, those with cancer, HIV or respiratory diseases such as asthma, given the risk of an interruption of drug supplies,” he said.

Terzian said warehouses storing medicines and vaccines in the port of Beirut were damaged in Tuesday’s monster blast.

The provisional death toll stood at 137, but with dozens missing and 5,000 wounded the number of victims was expected to rise as rescue workers continued to comb through the rubble.

Three hospitals in the Achrafieh neighborhood of central Beirut, including one with 1,100 beds, were damaged in the blast.

“The dialysis center, which was the biggest in the country, was completely destroyed,” Terzian said.

But hospitals that were quickly overrun on Tuesday, with overflowing emergency rooms, had a handle on the situation by Wednesday with many injured transferred outside Beirut, he added.

“Lebanese health care workers, especially those with experience of the civil war, were able to triage the emergency rooms very quickly and prioritize those patients who had to go to the operating rooms,” he said.

Terzian said Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan were sending field hospitals, and attempts were being made to guarantee supplies of basic medicines such as antibiotics, painkillers and blood bags.

The blast sowed destruction like that caused by the country’s 1975-90 civil war, leveling buildings several hundred meters away.

“We lived difficult and similar experiences during the Lebanese war,” Terzian said.

Bombings of petrol warehouses near the port had yielded “similar scenes — the city was completely devastated, people were wandering the streets, wounded, desperate, without knowing where to go.”

Lebanon’s diaspora, estimated at nearly three times the size of the country’s population of 5 million, has stepped up to provide assistance.

Lebanese expats rushed to wire money to loved ones who lost their homes or were injured in the blast, while others worked to create special funds to address the tragedy.

“I’ve been on the phone all morning with ... our partners in order to put together an alliance for an emergency fund in light of the explosion,” said George Akiki, co-founder and CEO of LebNet, a nonprofit based in California’s Silicon Valley that helps Lebanese professionals in the United States and Canada.

“Everyone, both Lebanese and non-Lebanese, wants to help.”

Akiki said his group, along with other organizations such as SEAL and Life Lebanon, have set up Beirut Emergency Fund 2020, which will raise much-needed money and channel it to safe and reputable organizations in Lebanon.

Many Lebanese expats, who almost all have loved ones or friends impacted by the disaster, are also helping individually or have started online fundraisers.

“As a first step, my wife Hala and I will match at least $10,000 in donations and later on we will provide more help toward rebuilding and other projects,” said Habib Haddad, a tech entrepreneur and member of LebNet based in Boston, Massachusetts.

He said many fellow compatriots are doing the same, channeling their grief and anger toward helping their stricken homeland, which before the blast was already reeling from a deep economic and political crisis that has left more than half the population living in poverty.

“They’re asking Lebanese emigrants around the world to try and help,” said Maroun Daccache, owner of a Lebanese restaurant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a country that has an estimated 7 million people of Lebanese descent.

“I’m trying to help with something but here the business is not very good because of the pandemic. Still, we are much better off than those over there,” Daccache said.

Even before the tragedy, Lebanon heavily relied on its diaspora for cash remittances but these inflows had slowed in the last year given the country’s political crisis.

Expats also usually visit home every summer, injecting much-needed cash into the economy. But the diaspora this year has largely been absent because of the COVID-19 pandemic and many had become increasingly skeptical and reluctant to send aid to a country where corruption is widespread and permeates all levels of society.

“People are outraged by the mismanagement of the country and they want to help, but no one trusts the people in charge,” said Najib Khoury-Haddad, a tech entrepreneur in the San Francisco area, echoing the feeling of many Lebanese leery of giving money to a dysfunctional government.

“I heard that the government has set up a relief fund but who would trust them?” he added.

Ghislaine Khairalla, 55, of Washington DC, said one idea being floated was to pair a needy family in Beirut with one outside the country that could provide a safe and direct source of assistance.

“We (the diaspora) are the financial bloodline especially since the economy is not going to recover anytime soon,” Khairalla, whose brother’s home was reduced to rubble by the blast, said. “And we are lucky to have a kind of stable life here. We are physically outside Lebanon but our hearts and emotions are there.”

Nayla Habib, a Lebanese-Canadian who lives in Montreal, said she planned to help in whatever way she can and expressed outrage at reports that the blast was caused by more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the Beirut port, which is located in the heart of the densely populated city.

“The state of our country is terrible and heartbreaking,” said Habib.

“I donated before the blast to a lady that helps feed the poor and I will donate again.

“Whatever I give is like a drop in the ocean but it’s necessary,” she added.

“I live in Canada but part of my heart is still there.”

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1715826/middle-east

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Rescue Operations Continue in Lebanon's Capital as Death Toll Continues to Climb

Aug 06, 2020

Members of the Lebanese Red Cross, army soldiers and volunteers were still searching for people listed missing under the rubble in areas near the port.

Civil defence workers were also busy examining building structures amid concerns that some might collapse after they were affected by the huge blast.

Lebanon's Ministry of Health announced that 157 people have been killed in the blast at Beirut's port on Tuesday, while at least 5,000 others have been injured. The explosion left 300,000 homeless.

Red Cross volunteers at the scene of the explosion declared they expect the death toll to rise as searches continue at the port where dozens are still missing, especially among employees who were present at the time of the incident.

After the explosion rocked the capital city of Beirut, the Lebanese government has decided to put all officials who oversaw storage and security there since 2014 under house arrest, until investigations are complete. The investigation is being conducted by a special committee headed by the Justice Minister and includes Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the heads of major security agencies.

The government of Lebanon has given an "investigative committee" four days to determine responsibility for the devastating explosion in Beirut port on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe told French radio.

"This morning, a decision was taken to create an investigative committee which in four days maximum must provide a detailed report on responsibility - how, who, what, where? There will be judicial decisions," he told Europe 1 radio.

"It is serious, and we take it seriously," Wehbe said, adding, "Those responsible for this horrible crime of negligence will be punished by a committee of judges."

As vast part of the city has been fallen into ruin, Economy Minister Raoul Nehme warned that Lebanon does not have sufficient financial means to cope with the consequences of the explosion in Beirut, noting, "We are asking the international community for aid. The damage caused by the explosion is assessed as billions of dollars. We will need time to estimate the total damage."

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud has also declared the massive explosion in Beirut might cost up to $15 billion worth in damage, pointing out that the capital "has some grain stocks, so the authorities are planning to cope with the food crisis without external interference".

The deadly blast in the port of Beirut, which the mayor of the city compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, had an explosive yield of several hundred tons of TNT equivalent, Business Insider reported, citing weapons experts.

Roland Alford, Managing Director of Alford Technologies, a British company that specialises in disposal of explosive ordnance, said “on a scale, this explosion is scaled down from a nuclear bomb rather than up from a conventional bomb”.

He added that “this is probably up there among the biggest non-nuclear explosions of all time".

Terrifying footage showed a huge mushroom cloud of fire and smoke covering much of Beirut’s port area, blowing out windows and destroying buildings in the neighborhood, as a warehouse at the Beirut docks caught fire on Tuesday afternoon. Photos on social media showed many buildings in the area damaged or destroyed, leaving residents covered in glass and blood.

Several smaller explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred and turned the city’s streets into a debris-strewn wasteland.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan blamed the explosion on a fireworks accident, ordering all hospitals in Beirut to prepare for the victims of the incident.

Badri Zaher, Director General of the Lebanese Customs House, declared that dozens of tons of nitrate had exploded in the port of Beirut.

Lebanese General Security Director Abbas Ibrahim also dismissed rumors of Israeli involvement, noting that a large cache of highly explosive sodium nitrate was stored at the site, after being confiscated off a ship several months ago. But he did not explain how the fire has started.

Head of the Lebanese Red Cross George Kettaneh also stated that hundreds of injured people were taken to hospital for treatment, while some still remain trapped in their homes.

The Health Ministry said all Beirut hospitals are overcrowded with those injured in the incident and can no more accomodate anyone.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud called it a "national catastrophe", adding, “It resembles to what happened in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s what [it] reminds me of. In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale."

Early reports claimed a short-circuit has likely sparked fire at the warehouse where the huge sodium nitrate cargo was kept and fire later spread to an adjacent warehouse where a huge cargo of fireworks was stored.

Yet, there is still no official report on the exact cause of the blast, a UN spokesperson told reporters that his organization is still unsure whether the explosion was "an accidental or man-made act".

The Israeli Defense Force has denied responsibility for the massive explosions in Beirut. Hezbollah has also denied the blasts were the result of a rocket attack.

https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990516000427

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Beirut explosion: Destroyed port used as quarantine center long before coronavirus

07 August 2020

The Port of Beirut – the site of the disastrous explosions that shattered Beirut on Tuesday – came to prominence as a Mediterranean trading hub facilitating commercial activity for Lebanon.

But 200 years ago, during a time of political uncertainty in which Lebanon was occupied by an Egyptian dynasty, the port was developed as a way to quell epidemics. At the time, cholera was the primary concern, but today, Lebanon – and the rest of the world – must again grapple with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic while it clears out the rubble left from the blasts.

Two days after the blasts, Lebanon recorded its highest single-day coronavirus infection tally, with 255 new cases.

While parts of Beirut lies in ruin, citizens have picked up brooms and taken to the streets. Meanwhile, the government seems absent from the scene, although security forces made an appearance Thursday night to blast protesters with tear gas after they gathered to protest government negligence that led to the explosions.

While the port’s history stretches back to the 15th century, the government paid particular attention to the development of the port in the 19th century as the city developed, wrote the late Samir Kassir in his book Beirut.

It was luck and a concern for public hygiene that subsequently saw the port’s commercial activity expand, according to the well-known Lebanese journalist and professor Kassir. Ibrahim Pasha, the Egyptian leader in charge of Lebanon at the time, sought to establish a network of quarantine centers throughout the Levant to slow the spread of epidemics.

While religious figures in Damascus and Tripoli protested, a lazaretto – a quarantine station for maritime travelers – was installed near Beriut at Cape Khodr along Saint George Bay – an area that would later be incorporated into municipal Beirut.

It would keep the name Qarantina.

Situated in a northern suburb of Beirut, before the blasts that shook Beirut to its core, the Qarantina of 21st century Beirut was a quiet neighborhood separated from the busier Mar Mikhael by a highway that hosted of the city’s famed nightclubs in old industrial buildings that once attracted Lebanese and tourists alike before they shut what was supposed to be temporarily to quell the modern pandemic.

Back in 1834, arrivals in Qarantina were required to quarantine for 12 days – two days less than the recommended self-isolation period for the novel coronavirus today. At the time, cholera was the major concern as two epidemics hit from the 1830s to 1860s.

“In principle it was obligatory for all visitors, but difficulties were not slow in emerging,” wrote Kassir.

French consul Henri guys was charged with devising a system of sanitary regulations, and consuls from Austria, Denmark, Spain and Greece were part of a supervisory committee.

“However limited the effectiveness of the quarantine may have been from a medical point of view, it undeniably benefited the economic development of Beirut, which from now on was an obligatory port of call for ships in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Kassir wrote.

While the Egyptians quit Beirut, and the city fell back under Ottoman control, warehouses were built and wharves were enlarged to handle the increased traffic to the port and port and customs procedures were regularized, which helped Beirut attract a larger share of trade with Europe.

By the 20th century, Beirut had become a major regional seaport, serving the oil trade and passenger and cargo traffic in the Levant and the Gulf, Australian-based outlet The Conversation reported.

“The port has played a key role in Beirut’s history and stands at the centre of the city, surrounded by some of its most important neighbourhoods,” Sara Fregonese wrote in The Conversation.

Up until Tuesday, the Beirut port had been responsible for 60 percent of Lebanon’s imports, as well as the storage of its food and medical reserves. Lebanon imports between 80 and 85 percent of its food.

As nationwide protests kicked off against government corruption and neglect in October during an ongoing currency and economic crisis, reports of medical shortages began to surface as importers could no longer secure dollars needed to pay for goods. The dollar shortage has also spurred inflation, and food costs have skyrocketed. Even bread, a subsidized good, has been subject to minor price increases.

The blasts at the port – which were also the subject of gross government negligence – took out a wheat silo that was capable of holding 120,000 tonnes of grain. At the time of the blast, it held only around 15,000 tonnes, but the country’s Minister of Economy Raoul Nehme said the country only had enough supplies for less than a month.

An official investigation is yet to determine the cause of the blast, but initial reports suggest that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at the port caught fire and caused the explosion that destroyed Beirut neighborhoods, left 137 dead, 5,000 injured, and some 300,000 homeless.

Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli ports

After Tuesday’s devastating blast, it seems like the country’s main commercial hub will become Tripoli in the north, though the port in Lebanon’s second largest city does not have the capacity of Beirut.

Public Works Minister Michel Najjar told local TV that Tripoli’s port may be backed up by Sidon and Tyre in the south.

In the 1820s, Sidon was bypassed for Beirut as a hub for trade, as the south was in decline, and the Egyptians viewed Beirut as a rising international city with the first foreign consuls and diplomats arriving in the city. French merchants began to favor Beirut over Sidon at this time as well, and Beirut became seen as the gateway to Europe – a title it still holds today, despite coming under immense strain.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/07/Beirut-explosion-Destroyed-port-used-as-quarantine-center.html

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UNICEF estimates 80,000 children displaced after Beirut explosion

06 August 2020

An estimated 80,000 children have become displaced due to the Beirut explosions that destroyed homes and buildings across the Lebanese capital, according to UNICEF.

“Over 300,000 people lost their homes and are now displaced. UNICEF estimates that nearly 80,000 are children. Children are likely to be among the casualties. Those who survived are traumatized and in shock,” a statement from UNICEF said.

For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

On Tuesday, multiple explosions at the Port of Beirut tore across the city, with residents in Cyprus reporting they felt a tremor.

“Over the past 24 hours, UNICEF continued to coordinate closely with authorities and partners on the ground to respond to the urgent needs focusing on health, water and the wellbeing of children,” UNICEF Deputy Representative in Lebanon Violet Speek-Warnery said.

UNICEF said that at least 12 primary healthcare facilities, maternal, immunization and newborn centers in Beirut were impacted. At least one newborn died, according to the UN agency.

Read more: Damaged Lebanon hospitals treating patients in parking lots after Beirut blasts

The children’s hospital in Karantina near the port had a specialized unit that cared for critical newborns. It has been destroyed, UNICEF said.

“The remaining operational hospitals are overstretched and have been depleted of critical medical supplies, both for emergency and COVID-19 response,” UNICEF said.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/07/UNICEF-estimates-that-80-000-children-have-been-displaced-due-to-Beirut-explosion-.html

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Sixteen arrested in connection with Beirut blasts: State-run news agency

06 August 2020

Sixteen people have been arrested in Lebanon in connection with the massive explosions that rocked Beirut, a judge told the state-run news agency Thursday night.

“The current number of those detained is 16, in addition to others that are still under investigation,” Lebanese Judge Fadi Akiki told the National News Agency.

For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

But more than 18 people have been questioned so far, including officials from the Port of Beirut, Customs Department and employees at the Warehouse 12, where more than 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate were stored, Akiki said.

The arrests come as the country's central bank decided to freeze the accounts of the heads of the port and customs along with five others, according to a central bank directive seen by Reuters and confirmed by the central bank.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/07/Sixteen-arrested-in-connection-with-Beirut-blasts-State-run-news-agency.html

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Lebanon's Gebran Bassil warns Macron of refugees 'your way' if Lebanon collapses

06 August 2020

The head of Lebanon’s largest Christian party and son-in-law of the president, Gebran Bassil, warned French President Emmanuel Macron that millions of refugees would flee to Europe if Lebanon collapsed.

Bassil told Macron, who was visiting Beirut following the explosions that killed more than 130 people and wounded over 5,000, that “we do not [forget] the reality of two million refugees and displaced on our land because of unjust wars.”

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

“Those that we are generously welcoming could flee towards you if Lebanon [collapses],” Bassil said, according to OTV, a TV channel funded by his political party.

The Lebanese government estimates that there are around 1.5 million Syrian refugees in the country and close to 400,000 Palestinian refugees.

Social media users quickly criticized Bassil, who has been accused of racism in the past.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/06/-s-Gebran-Bassil-warns-Macron-of-refugees-your-way-if-Lebanon-collapses.html

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After Beirut explosion, Lebanese American politicians stand with Lebanon

06 August 2020

American politicians with Lebanese heritage have taken to social media to express their solidarity and support for the land of their ancestors following the deadly explosion in Beirut on Tuesday.

Nearly 1.5 million Americans are of Lebanese descent, including a range of prominent US politicians serving in Congress, according to the Arab-American Institute.

Many of these politicians have spoken out in response to the blast that occurred in the land of their ancestors on Tuesday.

Democratic Congressman Charlie Crist, formerly governor of Florida, said he was “devasted” to hear of the tragedy.

“My mother’s side of our family have deep roots in Lebanon…Those that are hurt and families that are torn apart...are in my prayers,” Crist said in a post on Twitter.

Another Florida representative, Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, whose grandparents came to the US from Lebanon, said in a post on Twitter that her “heart aches for Beirut.”

“Lebanon is part of my heritage,” she said, sharing photos of the damage sent to her from family members in Beirut.

“America stands with our friends in Lebanon,” posted Congressman Darin LaHood of Illinois, whose great-grandparents came to the US from Lebanon.

“In central Illinois, we have an incredible Lebanese American community, and I will continue to urge Congress and the Administration to support Lebanon in response to this tragedy,” he said.

Democratic Congresswoman Donna Shalala of Florida said she was “saddened by the horrible tragedy” and offered her “deepest condolences” to everyone affected.

“I care deeply about the land of my grandparents. My hope and my prayer are that the people of Lebanon will come together to help their brothers and sisters recover from this terrible tragedy,” she said in a post on Twitter.

“I plan on working with my colleagues in Congress and at the State Department to make sure the United States helps provide the necessary humanitarian assistance,” she added.

The current US leadership has expressed their willingness to help Lebanon in the aftermath of the tragedy.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered US assistance to Lebanon and called former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday.

The US “remains committed to assist with the aftermath of this terrifying event,” Pompeo said in a post on Twitter.

“The United States stands ready to assist Lebanon,” US President Donald Trump said during a White House briefing.

“Our prayers go out to all the victims and their families,” Trump said.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/08/06/After-Beirut-blast-Lebanese-American-politicians-stand-with-Lebanon.html

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Pro-Iran militias continue hitting military bases in Iraq

Aug 5, 2020

The two rockets that hit Baghdad airport July 30 were one of several attacks in Iraq last month presumed to be or declared by Shiite armed groups against any Western military presence in the country.

The airport, which had reopened July 23 for commercial flights after it was closed in March in an attempt to stem the coronavirus pandemic, lies just west of the capital. No significant damage resulted; the rockets had reportedly been shot from two different areas along an international highway in al-Radwaniyah, southwest of the capital.

On July 28, some media sources had been told by unnamed “Iraqi security” that two rockets had landed inside the airport but had not resulted in any damage. The claim was shortly thereafter denied by the Iraqi Security Media Cell, which instead confirmed exactly such an attack two days later.

The latest of many attacks on Camp Taji, on July 27, less than 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Baghdad, meanwhile damaged an Iraqi helicopter but did not affect coalition troops or facilities.

Several attacks in recent months have been claimed by “new pro-Iran groups” that some say may instead be unofficial branches of Kataib Hezbollah, which has brigades within Iraq’s official government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), but which was declared a terrorist organization by the United States in 2009 and has long received support from Iran.

Al-Monitor tried to get in touch with a number of PMU commanders and a PMU spokesman, and even though in the past they had commented, they said they could not respond to questions relating to recent attacks and prominent Shiite armed groups’ call for "revenge" for the deaths of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed by a US drone strike next to the Baghdad airport Jan. 3.

Many factions within the PMU are linked to parties in the parliament and political jockeying is expected the coming months ahead of early elections scheduled for June 2021.

A message requesting comments from Kataib Hezbollah spokesman Jaafar al-Husseini was left unanswered. However, Husseini had told Al-Monitor via WhatsApp June 29 that there would be severe consequences for the raid of Kataib Hezbollah headquarters by the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Services, which have received training and extensive support from the US-led international coalition.

Husseini noted that the various factions close to Iran as part of "the axis of resistance" would continue “to put pressure on the Americans to leave after the decision from the parliament,” and after “millions took to the streets to say they want the Americans out [after] the crimes they committed — like the airport crime and the attacks on the PMU.”

He claimed that “this will lead us to take action in order to stop the government’s unlawful measures," vowing that “the Americans and [Prime Minister] Mustafa al-Kadhimi should know that Iraq will not be for the Americans or the Israelis or the oil countries,” in reference to Gulf nations.

A June 29 tweet by the Iraqi security and counterterrorism expert Hisham al-Hashimi, about a week before his assassination, had asked the question of what the factions of "the axis of resistance" meant when they said that “they are under the command of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces” and “his security and military vision,” when they circulated photos of Kataib Hezbollah fighters who had been arrested stomping on the face of the commander-in-chief, the prime minister, as soon as they were released after their arrest.

Hashimi, whose killers have not yet been found but who had received threats from Kataib Hezbollah prior to his death, said that these factions were thus “deceiving themselves and their audiences.”

PMU officially created in 2014 — when Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling on Iraqis to fight in unison against the Islamic State (IS) after they took control of Mosul — not close to Iran will comment much on the killing of Soleimani other than that any assassination by a foreign country on Iraqi soil should be answered for. The death of PMU leader Muhandis was seen by some as a major loss, in part due to his ability to exercise control over a wide variety of disparate armed groups.

The commander of one Sunni PMU faction, which had received support from Iran via Muhandis to fight against IS post-2014, told Al-Monitor earlier this year that Muhandis was "the soul of the PMU.” The commander, Sheikh Wennas al-Jbara from Salahhuddin province, widely praised Muhandis in an interview at one of his outposts near the Hamreen Mountains in March. However, he carefully sidestepped questions specifically about Iran and the United States, simply saying he was “against any foreign interference on Iraqi soil.”

The situation seems extremely dangerous for anyone who might voice a different opinion, as Hashimi’s assassination shows.

One concern is that these attacks by Shiite militias on Iraqi government facilities seen as close to the international coalition will negatively impact the fight against IS sleeper cells, including near the capital.

On the damage to Iraqi bases hosting or previously hosting international coalition troops, international coalition spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III told Al-Monitor in a WhatsApp voice message July 29 that "their effect on the fight against IS is somewhat limited. What is more important, more egregious and more dastardly about these attacks is that the groups — who are doing these attacks [and] are under different names — are once again harming Iraqi people. This is Iraqi equipment flown by Iraqi pilots for the fight to ensure that ISIS does not harm Iraqi people. So the question is why are these attacks happening on Iraqi security force bases. And it is clear that the government of Iraq is making strong statements about these outlawed groups and working quite intensely to find the groups and bring people to justice.”

He stressed that "the relationship between the government of Iraq and the coalition is strong and any groups that are envious of that relationship … perhaps their motivation is not fully aligned with defeating ISIS. I don’t know, I can’t speak for those groups.”

The continuing attacks may force the coalition troops to shift more to defending themselves and to supporting areas where they feel more welcome as they continue their drawdown.

Whether this will result in greater independence for Iraq, as Kataib Hezbollah claims, or the opposite — along with more IS activity and less potential investment and aid in a country desperate for both — will become clear in the coming months.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/iraq-shiite-militias-us-iran.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1418800_

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Mideast

Iran's Top Commander Offers Condolence to Nasrallah, Lebanese Army Commander

Aug 06, 2020

In his messages on Wednesday, General Baqeri said that the tragic incident requires the Armed Forces of the Islamic countries to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Lebanon.

Iranian Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi had also offered his commiseration over the deadly explosion in Beirut, and voiced Iran’s readiness to provide any assistance to the Lebanese people and government.

A massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least 135 people, wounding over 5,000 more, and smashing a vast area.

Photos on social media showed many buildings in the area damaged or destroyed, leaving residents covered in glass and blood.

Several smaller explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred and turned the city’s streets into a debris-strewn wasteland.

In addition to local authorities, more than 30 Red Cross teams are responding at the scene of the blast.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan blamed the explosion on a fireworks accident, ordering all hospitals in Beirut to prepare for the victims of the incident.

Head of the Lebanese Red Cross George Kettaneh also stated that hundreds of injured people were taken to hospital for treatment, while some still remain trapped in their homes.

Hotel Dieu Hospital in Beirut reported it was treating more than 500 injuries and was not able to receive more. Tens of injured needed operations, the hospital said appealing for blood donations. Rizq Hospital also said that it has admitted 400 wounded people.

The health ministry said all Beirut hospitals are overcrowded with those injured in the incident and can no more accommodate anyone.

Yet, the health minister told Lebanon's LBC News that hundreds are feared dead and thousands have been wounded in the blast. He added that the death toll now stands at over 135.

The Lebanese Red Cross also declared that over 5,000 people have been wounded in the incident, while the numbers are still expected to rise. It added that over 135 dead bodies have been collected from the scene of the incident so far.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud called it a "national catastrophe" and Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared a day of mourning.

“It resembles to what happened in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That’s what [it] reminds me of. In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale," Abboud added.

Badri Zaher, Director General of the Lebanese Customs House, declared that dozens of tons of nitrate had exploded in the port of Beirut.

Early reports said a short-circuit has likely sparked fire at the warehouse where the huge sodium nitrate cargo was kept and fire later spread to an adjacent warehouse where a huge cargo of fireworks was stored.

Yet, there is still no official report on the exact cause of the blast, while a UN spokesperson told reporters that his organization is still unsure whether the explosion was "an accidental or man-made act".

Later, the Israeli Defense Force denied responsibility for the massive explosions in Beirut. Hezbollah has also denied the blasts were the result of a rocket attack.

https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990516000359

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Iran, Lebanon Review Ways to Aid Injured People in Beirut

Aug 06, 2020

During the phone talks, the two sides discussed the catastrophic explosion that occurred in Beirut Port and the way of sending humanitarian aid to the injured.

General Hatami expressed his condolences and sympathy with the government, Armed Forces and people of Lebanon, and said that Iranian government and Armed Forces are ready to send emergency aids to those injured in the incident.

“Iran’s medical aid include a field hospital which is ready for sending to Lebanon.”

Akar, for her part, appreciated Iran for expressing sympathy and humanitarian contributions to Lebanon.