Independent journalist Richard Silverstein is reporting that Israel was behind the massive explosion at a port in Beirut, Lebanon, that has killed dozens and injured thousands.
Silverstein reports that a “confidential highly-informed Israeli source” told him that Israel was targeting a Hezbollah weapons depot at the port and planned to destroy it with an explosive device of some kind.
He says the next-door warehouse was not Israel’s intended target.
That warehouse housed nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly flammable compound, which was the cause of the larger devastation.
The blast destroyed the port and left parts of the city looking like a war zone.
Beirut port, before and after the blast. #BeirutBlast #BeirutExplosion pic.twitter.com/vTwUORUVx4
— Syrian Girl (@Partisangirl) August 4, 2020
Beirut is like war zone at the moment. The number of people died is unknown. There is a massive destruction in the city.
Our prayers are with Lebanese brothers and sisters. #Beirut #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/sVNlWVSxc2
— Selami Haktan (Eng) (@slmhktn_eng) August 4, 2020
President Trump, earlier in the week, said U.S. military officials feel the blast was not an accident and that it was the result of an “attack.”
“I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not a — some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of a event…They seem to think it was a attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes,” he said.
You can read Silverstein’s report in its entirety here.