Middle East

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister calls Beirut port explosion 'suspicious'

December 30, 2020. Summarized by summa-bot.

Compression ratio: 26.2%. 1 min read.

A probe into hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate left at Beirut's port began just hours before a massive blast rocked the site, leaving more than 200 dead and devastating the Lebanese capital, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab told CNN on Tuesday.

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN)A probe into hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate left at Beirut's port began just hours before a massive blast rocked the site, leaving more than 200 dead and devastating the Lebanese capital, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab told CNN on Tuesday.

Diab, who resigned as prime minister in the wake of the port explosion on August 4 but stayed on as caretaker PM, claimed that the evening before it happened he tasked the country's public works minister and justice minister with investigating about 2,750 metric tons of the chemical that arrived in the city on a ship in 2013.

Since the ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut, Lebanon has had four prime ministers, including the country's current Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who has denounced the charging of Diab.

The documents forwarded to the public works ministry before the blast raised the possibility that the explosive material could be stolen; they warn of a broken door at the warehouse where the deadly material was stored, and reveal that security there was scant.

Diab's government, which will be replaced when a new cabinet is formed, has repeatedly acknowledged receiving prior warnings about the dangers posed by the storage of the explosive material at the port.

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