No Evidence Beirut Explosion Was an Attack
The Claim
The August 4, 2020 explosion at a Beirut warehouse was an attack.
News posted on
Emerging story
On August 4, 2020 U.S. President Trump said that the Beirut explosion was a “terrible attack.”
The claim was soon picked up by users on social media. Many blamed the ostensible attack on Israel.
Misbar’s Analysis
Over a hundred people were killed and thousands wounded in the explosion in the Lebanese capital. Videos of the explosion soon went viral.
After calling the explosion an “attack,” Trump continued: "It would seem like it based on the explosion. I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was not a – some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a – seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."
The explosion began in a warehouse that stored nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate. While it was initially blamed on a fireworks explosion, the current belief is that it was caused by confiscated materials. Mayor General Abbas Ibrahim of Lebanon’s General Security Directorate said that it was caused by confiscated “high explosive materials.”
Lebanon has since declared a two-week state of emergency in its capital city.
However, despite Trump’s claims, there is no evidence indicating it was an attack of any sort.
