ShortHand: Lebanon Explosion

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When a warehouse full of abandoned ammonium nitrate exploded in the centre of Beirut, the world watched on in disbelief. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, and had torn a hole through the heart of Lebanon’s capital city.

And as the global media absorbed the mounting figures – 218 dead, 7,000 wounded, 300,000 displaced, and more than $4bn in material damage – a new realisation also dawned. This was not only a preventable catastrophe; those responsible sat at the very highest levels of government. Here is the ShortHand.

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Sources

https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/08/03/they-killed-us-inside/investigation-august-4-beirut-blast

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53668493

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion-blast.html 

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/08/06/beirut-lebanon-explosion-ammonium-nitrate-russian-ship-robertson-pkg-intl-ldn-vpx.cnn 

https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/historiography-and-memory-lebanese-civil-war.html 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070115172923/http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/specialsession/A.HRC.3.2.pdf 

https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/a-hidden-tycoon-african-explosives-and-a-loan-from-a-notorious-bank-questionable-connections-surround-beirut-explosion-shipment 

https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/ownership-of-chemicals-that-exploded-at-beirut-port-traces-back-to-ukraine 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-53701648 

https://splash247.com/report-links-cypriot-shipping-magnate-to-beirut-disaster/ 

https://apnews.com/article/politics-beirut-lebanon-03eb5ff04f6ad86b3d0d6fb2ab25bdd6 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/12/sarah-copland-the-australian-mothers-relentless-fight-for-justice-after-her-sons-death-in-the-beirut-port-explosion 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3iLmvrjV8U

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-05/isaac-oehlers-parents-beirut-blast-four-corners/12699756 

https://globalnews.ca/news/8646379/what-happened-beirut-explosion/ 

https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/france-reveals-plan-to-rebuild-lebanons-beirut-port-destroyed-in-2020-explosion/ 

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210804-french-president-macron-pledges-100-million-euros-worth-of-emergency-aid-for-lebanon 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/16/france-to-host-new-international-aid-conference-on-lebanon