\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/DdSHRbSZkwc<\/p>\n
by Richard Silverstein This is the\u00a0fourth<\/a>\u00a0in a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0articles<\/a>\u00a0about the Beirut port explosion and Israeli culpability for the disaster.<\/p>\n Asian Times\u2019 Middle East correspondent has\u00a0consulted multiple Lebanese sources<\/a>\u00a0including an intelligence official and offers much confirming information about my\u00a0original report<\/a>\u00a0that Israel bombed a Hezbollah arms depot at the Beirut port. Much of the information in her article addresses key points raised by skeptics who disagree with my assessment.<\/p>\n A Hezbollah-linked source explains why neither Israel nor Hezbollah would publicly confirm the real nature of the events which transpired:<\/p>\n The alternative, Lebanese security sources said, would be the logical attribution to Israel, forcing Hezbollah into an equivalent response, which would trigger a war of catastrophic proportions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it was an Israeli attack, then this will not be revealed because it implicates both sides in a war they don\u2019t want,\u201d a senior Lebanese source close to Hezbollah told Asia Times on condition of anonymity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Other skeptics allege that the location of the port in a Christian neighborhood would preclude Hezbollah from maintaining an arms facility there. It also notes a point I made in my initial post, that Trump was, for once, telling the truth, when he announced after a high-level military briefing that the Beirut disaster was a \u201cterrible attack:\u201d<\/p>\n In Lebanon, \u201cthere is nothing happening in sensitive places \u2013 the airport, frontiers, seaport \u2013 that is not related to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel,\u201d a former high-ranking Lebanese military-intelligence source told Asia Times.<\/p>\n The explosion, he assessed, was no accident. And Trump, he said, is evidently incapable of keeping a secret.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Prevalent in the world media and among others seeking to rebut the Hezbollah-Israel scenario is the claim that the initial explosion was caused by fireworks. This source rebut that and also affirms the chain of catastrophic events began with a detonation of military arms:<\/p>\n Yet the fireworks scenario is being met with intense skepticism, given the obvious dangers such a close storage arrangement would present.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not believe there was that amount of ammonium nitrate at the port of Beirut, nor that there was a fireworks depot,\u201d explosives expert Danilo Coppe\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Italian daily Corriere.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen ammonium nitrate detonates, it generates an unmistakable yellow cloud. Instead, from the videos of the explosion, in addition to the white sphere that can be seen expanding \u2013 which is condensation of the sea air \u2013 you can clearly see a brick orange column tending to bright red, typical of lithium participation. Lithium-metal is a propellant for military missiles, so I think there were armaments there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like an explosion of an armament warehouse,\u201d said Coppe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A U.S. military weapons specialist argues that the initial explosion was a deliberate act of sabotage. Again, this accords with my original report:<\/p>\n A US military explosives expert who has worked closely with the Lebanese army told Asia Times on condition of anonymity that according to his contacts among the Lebanese armed forces, the explosion was an \u201cact of sabotage\u201d against the hangar, which was holding not only ammonium nitrate, but also short-range missiles, allegedly impounded.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spoken to several [Lebanese former and current] military people that all agreed this was an arms depot exploding after the first strike, and that the ammonium nitrate would not ignite without a fuse, in this case an explosion,\u201d said Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The journalist goes farther saying that her Lebanese defense experts have attributed the \u201csabotage\u201d to a deliberate Israeli attack:<\/p>\n A number of Lebanese defense analysts believe\u00a0Israel did likely carry out the attack, but did not intend for damage of this magnitude<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe official word, is this was an accident,\u201d said Kahwaji. \u201cEveryone was surprised by the magnitude of the explosion, including the Israelis themselves<\/em>, and hence they don\u2019t want to take responsibility. Hezbollah won\u2019t say because they don\u2019t want to admit having weapons in the city.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Frankly, I\u2019m astonished at the level of vitriol and derision my reporting has met.\u00a0 I would expect it from right-wing pro-Israel sources.\u00a0 But much of this vindictive, even personal response has come from those who purport to be on the left.\u00a0 This has astonished me.\u00a0 But it has also made me realize that solidarity is easy on a day to day basis.\u00a0 But when a crisis strikes, then people either lose their bearings or revert to type.\u00a0 It\u2019s good to know who your friends are and aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n I also want to make clear that I accept skepticism. I accept the need to support this scenario with credible information. But I don\u2019t accept outright blanket dismissal shorn of serious argument. And that\u2019s what most of the skeptics offer.<\/p>\n I especially appreciate the few individuals who initially met my report with incredulity, but who kept enough of an open mind to read my ongoing reporting and become convinced that I was, if not absolutely right, at least offering an argument that needed to be taken seriously. Admitting error is not easy. But doing so is a mark of maturity and seriousness.<\/p>\n H\/t to\u00a0Joshua Gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nTikun Olam<\/a><\/p>\n