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Officials Long Warned of Explosive Chemicals at Beirut Port

Associated Press

   BEIRUT, LEBANON - At least 10 times over the past six years,
   authorities from Lebanon's customs, military, security agencies and
   judiciary raised alarm that a massive stockpile of explosive chemicals
   was being kept with almost no safeguard at the port in the heart of
   Beirut, newly surfaced documents show.

   Yet in a circle of negligence, nothing was done -- and on Tuesday, the
   2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate blew up, obliterating the city's main
   commercial hub and spreading death and wreckage for miles around.

   President Michel Aoun, in office since 2016, said Friday that he was
   first told of the dangerous stockpile nearly three weeks ago and
   immediately ordered military and security agencies to do "what was
   needed." But he suggested his responsibility ended there, saying he had
   no authority over the port and that previous governments had been told
   of its presence.

   "Do you know how many problems have been accumulating?" Aoun replied
   when a reporter pressed whether he should have followed up on his
   order.

   The documents surfacing in social media since the blast underscore the
   corruption, negligence and incompetence of Lebanon's long-ruling
   political oligarchy, and its failure to provide its people with basic
   needs, including security.

   Investigators probing the blast have focused on personnel at the Port
   of Beirut, Lebanon's main port, so well known for corruption that its
   common nickname is Ali Baba's Cave.

   So far, at least 16 port employees have been detained and others
   questioned. On Friday, investigators questioned and then ordered the
   detention of the head of the port, Hassan Koraytem, the country's
   customs chief, Badri Daher, and Daher's predecessor.

   But many Lebanese say the rot permeates the political system and
   extends to the country's top leadership.

   The explosion of the ammonium nitrate, after apparently being set off
   by a fire, was the biggest in Lebanon's history. The known death toll
   reached 154, including bodies recovered from the rubble Friday, and
   more than 5,000 people were wounded. Billions of dollars in damage was
   caused across the city, where many are too impoverished by Lebanon's
   financial crisis to rebuild.

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