The general consensus on the Beirut explosion at the moment seems to the 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse there. From the Times:
What is ammonium nitrate?
It is an industrial chemical mostly used for fertiliser as a good source of nitrogen for plants. It is also a key component in industrial explosives, such as those used in mining, although terrorist groups and individuals have adopted it for homemade bombs. Ammonium nitrate is not explosive by itself and requires another substance, such as oil, to become highly explosive. It is an oxidiser — drawing oxygen to a fire, making it more intense.
Why was it in Beirut’s port?
The 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate said to have caused the explosion were stored in a warehouse there. They were seized in September 2013 from a Moldovan-flagged ship that was forced to stop at the port en route from Georgia to Mozambique after it got into technical difficulties. The port authorities prevented the ship from continuing its journey with the cargo after determining it was unsafe and unloaded the materials after the owners abandoned the vessel and crew. The cargo and the vessel were supposed to have been auctioned or disposed of. It remains unclear why it has remained in storage since then.
Has anything like this happened before?
A similar incident took place in the Chinese port city of Tianjin in August 2015, killing more than 170 people and leaving hundreds injured. A series of detonations rocked a collection of warehouses where large quantities of chemicals were stored, some of them illegally. Authorities said the first explosion was triggered when high summer temperatures caused a highly flammable compound called nitrocellulose to spontaneously ignite, setting alight a neighbouring warehouse storing ammonium nitrate.
MEMRI TV have wasted no time in posting a couple of old clips from Feb 2016 and Feb 2017, now given a considerable ironic force, of Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah grinning as he threatens a missile strike on the ammonia tanks in Haifa, and then later taking the credit for their removal:
In a February 16, 2016, speech, aired on Al-Manar TV, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened the Israeli ammonia storage facilities in Haifa. He quoted an Israeli expert, saying that a missile attack on the ammonia tanks would have the impact of a nuclear bomb. Nasrallah said that this means that Lebanon has a nuclear bomb, “this is no exaggeration.” He added that such an attack on the Haifa ammonia facilities would potentially cause tens of thousands of deaths.
On February 16, 2017, Nasrallah said in a speech, aired on Mayadeen TV that Israel had decided to remove the ammonia tanks from Haifa due to Hizbullah’s threats. He claimed that the people of Haifa had to thank Hizbullah for this. Nassrallah added that even after the storage facility would be removed from Haifa, Hizbullah would still be able to reach the ammonia facility in its new location as well as the Dimona nuclear plant. Nasrallah said that while an attack on the ammonia storage tanks would be the equivalent of a nuclear attack, an attack on a ship supplying ammonia to Israel would be like five nuclear bombs.
From the Jerusalem Post:
While many Lebanese are pointing to rampant mismanagement in Lebanon, which is notorious for the corruption of politicians and officials, one party has remained relatively mum on the subject: Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has a significant arsenal of explosives, missiles, ammunition and more stored in populated areas across the country, including in Beirut.
A July report by the ALMA Research and Education Center found that the group has at least 28 missile launching sites, command and control infrastructure, missile assembly sites, rocket fuel storage sites and missile bunkers next to high schools, clinics, hospitals, golf clubs and soccer fields as well as the Iranian Embassy and the Lebanese Ministry of Defense.
Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, also accused Hezbollah and Iran of using Beirut Port to transfer weapons using commercial companies.
"Israel discovered that Iran and its Quds Force have been exploiting civilian maritime channels, and specifically the Port of Beirut," Danon said. "The Iranian regime is transferring weapons in various ways. They use commercial companies, mainly from Europe, to support Hezbollah and develop its missile program. Unfortunately, the Port of Beirut has become Hezbollah's port.”
Lebanon was already in the midst of an unprecedented calamity, on the brink of collapse due to a severe economic crisis, when the explosion took place – and Hezbollah is not immune to that.
Israeli officials have warned that should another war with the terror group break out, it would “send Lebanon back to the Stone Age” as the country’s infrastructure is used by Hezbollah. Unfortunately on Tuesday, residents of Beirut got a taste of just that. And not from war, but from a catastrophic failure and mismanagement by the ruling class.
With the country falling off an economic cliff and temperatures rising – and not just meteorologically – opposition to Hezbollah’s grip on the country is also growing.
Following the deadly explosion, will the Lebanese street once again rise up and force the political leadership to force Hezbollah to finally move their arsenals away from civilian centers? Or will Hezbollah’s grip on the country only tighten?
With such mismanagement of handling the dangerous and explosive material, as well as organized crime which is run from the port, it was a disaster waiting to happen. A disaster that Lebanon could not afford.