Another Look at the Blast at Beirut Port on 4 August 2020

Ed.'s note: We put up some initial analysis from various sources of the blast in Beirut on August 4, 2020 that devastated nearly one square mile of Beirut killing around 200 people leaving an estimated 300,00 people homeless. The blast destroyed a large number of buildings and port infrastructure. The initial post admittedly was full of flaws and inconsistencies, so we are republishing the following that seems to better explain the likely events involving the blast. The idea the port at Beirut was devastated in order for China's Belt & Road Initiative to continue related to the "historic peace agreement" between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) still stands. The UAE is very close to Iran in trade. The port in Beirut has been completely destroyed while the port at Haifa managed by China is up and running and fully functional. In this regard, it doesn't matter how the port was destroyed, so don't get distracted with "mini nukes" and "missile strikes." Here is the initial post done on 4 August 2020:

BEIRUT SUFFERS DEVASTATING 9/11-LEVEL ATTACK—Who did it and Why?
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Source: Fort Russ

TEXAS: Beirut Anti-Disinfo

By Russell Bentley | August 18, 2020

In these days of gaslighting, misinformation, disinformation and downright bullshit, the fevered postulations of some self-styled "pundits" about a secret weapon or mini-nuke being used in the Beirut blast are as irritating as they are inaccurate and improbable. That the US and or Israel are responsible for the detonation is indeed, highly likely, but yet to be proven, and not the point in question. But the irresponsible and absolutely unsubstantiated claims of a Hezbollah weapons depot, mini-nukes and secret weapons are not only preposterous, but provably false, and the otherwise respectable authors and news outlets that have published them have done themselves and their readers a real disservice. Allow me to set the record straight.

Before I get into the facts of the explosion in Beirut, I'd like to mention that I served three years as a 12-B Combat Engineer, a demolition specialist, in the US Army, and I have been trained on, worked with, and detonated pretty much every non-nuclear explosive, including quite a bit of ammonium nitrate. I'm not saying I am an expert, but I can assure you I know more about explosives than any of these armchair experts who have never even thrown a hand grenade. So, let's get to it.

THE HEZBOLLAH "WEAPONS DEPOT"

The first thing I notice about all these sensationalist, bogus and unfounded articles is that they all seem to take for granted that Hezbollah (HZB) actually had a weapons depot at the port. That’s bullshit right off the bat. HZB DID NOT STORE WEAPONS OR AMMO AT THE PORT. HZB certainly knew, as probably every secret service in the world did, that there was a ticking time bomb sitting there since 2013, and if they stored ANY weapons ANYWHERE near the port, they'd be giving the zionist entity (ZE) a perfect excuse to destroy half of Beirut and blame it on HZB. Furthermore, they (HZB) couldn't have stored any kind of weapons there, even if they wanted to. The port is controlled by Hariri's "Future Movement" political party, the true source of corruption in Lebanon, and the true enemies of HZB, and has been since before the Rhosus docked there in 2013. The port is in the affluent north of Beirut, HZB's political base is in the proletarian south. Hassan Nasrallah himself has said, "No weapons, no ammo, no rockets, HZB stored _nothing_ at the port". It makes sense, and there is NO reason to doubt his word. For HZB to store weapons at the port, under the control and observation of their main political rivals in Lebanon, next to a enormous explosives stockpile that could be detonated by an ostensibly "justified" strike by Israel on HZB weapons, is as counter-intuitive and absolutely illogical and self-defeating, not to mention needless, as Assad gassing civilians in Ghouta or Russians poisoning the Skripals in the UK. It just doesn't make sense. So, HZB says they didn't store weapons there, there was zero reason for them to do so and myriad reasons not to, and they literally could not have, even if they had wanted to.

SECRET WEAPONS AND MINI-NUKES

Some authors have posited that the explosion was "too powerful" to be anything but a "mini-nuke" or some new "secret weapon". First of all, this is baseless speculation on their part, and furthermore, proves that they know nothing about explosives. Well, I do, so let me explain. First of all, the smallest "mini-nuke" is the M-388 "Davy Crockett", a true "mini-nuke" with an explosive payload between 10 and 20 tons of TNT. The explosion in Beirut of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate was equal to about 1,800 tons of TNT. Explosives vary in their detonation speed, which is directly related to their explosive power. TNT is the standard explosive by which other explosives are compared. The Fat Man atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki 75 years ago this month, had an explosive power of 21 Kilotons, which is the explosive equivalent of 21,000 tons of TNT. Ammonium nitrate is, in fact, a low explosive, with a detonation speed 2,700 meters per second, as compared to TNT's speed of 6,900 m/s. TNT is a high explosive. There were 2,750 tons of AN stored at the Beirut Port. 2.75 kilotons of AN have the explosive power of between 1.2 and 1.8 kilotons of TNT. As you can see from the blast calculator below, a 1.8 kiloton explosion would in fact be quite similar to the destruction and damage actually caused by the Beirut Port blast, with heavy damage out to 0.22 Km, moderate damage out to about 1 Km. and lighter damage in an area of about 6.5 square kilometers.

So, in fact the damage is actually precisely what could be expected from a detonation of 2,750 tons of AN. And while AN is considered a stable explosive, it does NOT require fuel oil to be added to make it explosive, and it can be set off in a chain reaction with a relatively small amount of Semtex, TNT, C-4 or dynamite. In fact, a small backpack with 20 pounds of high explosive, placed correctly, would certainly be enough to detonate the entire warehouse of AN, which was haphazardly stored in 2,750 one ton bags. As you can see, they were stored close together, touching, in fact, which would allow for sympathetic detonation. Once one went, they all would go. Instantly.

THE MUSHROOM CLOUD

There have also been ridiculous claims that mushroom clouds "prove" the explosion was nuclear. The fact is, that mushroom clouds are commonly caused by conventional explosives in large amounts, (such as, say, 2,750 tons, and even much less) and even by volcanoes. So anyone who tells you the mushroom cloud is significant as an indication of a nuclear component has exactly zero credibility. ZERO. The reddish-brown color of the smoke is also consistent with large detonations of AN, and the white vapor clouds seen forming with the shock wave are also completely common in large explosions and are in no way indicative, much less proof, of a nuclear blast. Again, if anyone tries to tell you this is proof of a nuclear detonation, it only proves they don't know what they are talking about, at all.

THE RADIATION "SPIKE"

Of course, the most conclusive proof that the explosion was non-nuclear is the total lack of radiation increase. There was a fake news piece passed around about a "strong spike in radiation levels" picked up in Sicily shortly after the blast. Apparently, the image being touted was actually a malfunction, since the "spike" actually occurred several hours before the blast itself. You can also see the monthly and annual radiation levels of the exact monitor here, and note the "spike" is well within normal parameters, and in no way remarkable. Here is the fake reading –

Please go to Fort Russ to read the entire analysis.
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Aftermath..."now it's all gone"...