Beirut
The TWA Hostage Crisis was an epic 17-day shitshow that whiplashed between abject terror and black comedy. As a young foreign correspondent, I got to see it all firsthand.
The ammonium nitrate that incinerated Beirut was bound for Mozambique, where explosives often end up on the black market for mining operations with dubious human-rights records.
A letter from security officials to the president and PM pleading they secure 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate in the port before it destroys the city was sent July 20.
Port authorities claimed the cargo, offloaded from ship TRUMP D, named after the U.S. president, is safe because it is in “big bags” just like those in Beirut.
Anguish has turned to anger in the Lebanese capital with police using tear gas on protesters out on the streets to demand transparency over deadly port explosion.
A slew of conspiracy theories flying around social media by Saudi-linked accounts and others are seeking to cast blame on who is responsible for the deadly explosion in Beirut.
Several shocking videos captured the horror of Tuesday night’s explosion that ripped through Beirut without warning.