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Washington – On Friday, the United States accused the Lebanese Hezbollah militia of establishing several “caches for storing ammonium nitrate” in various European countries, suggesting that Washington established a link between the Lebanese Shiite organization and the Beirut port explosion resulting from store this material, at a time when Paris denied it was The pro-Iranian militia has accumulated material in France.
“Since 2012, Hezbollah has established caches for storing ammonium nitrate throughout Europe, transporting first aid bags containing this substance in their refrigerated pockets,” said Nathan Sales, counterterrorism coordinator for the State Department.
“This type of storage cache was found in several countries, including the UK, Greece, France, Italy and others,” Sales said at a news conference. He also spoke about the transport of this substance through Belgium, Spain and Switzerland.
Sales confirmed that some of these stored materials had been “destroyed”.
“We have reason to believe that these activities are still continuing,” said the US counterterrorism coordinator, adding that Washington suspects such storage caches existed until at least 2018, “most likely in Greece, Italy and Spain.”
“As we all witnessed in the Beirut port explosion, ammonium nitrate is a very dangerous substance,” he said.
The US official did not provide further details or evidence of these activities.
Ammonium nitrate is an industrial chemical commonly used in the manufacture of fertilizers and as an explosive in quarries and mining. It is considered relatively safe if it is free of contaminants and stored properly.
The material is very dangerous if exposed to contamination, mixed with fuel or stored unsafe, as happened in the port of Beirut in August when 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded, destroying the port and killing 191 people.
While these allegations sparked widespread controversy, especially after they were linked to the Beirut port bombing on August 4, which killed 191 people and destroyed areas of the Lebanese capital, the French Foreign Ministry denied that Hezbollah had stored explosive materials in France.
On Friday, the French Foreign Ministry said there was no evidence to suggest that the armed wing of Hezbollah’s militia had stored chemicals to make explosives in France.
“As far as we know, there is nothing concrete to confirm such a claim in France today,” French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Mol told reporters in response to Sells’ allegations.
Unlike the United States, which has classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization since 1997, France says its chosen wing has a legitimate political role.
France is leading efforts to put Lebanon on a new path after decades of corruption that led to the country’s deepest crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Germany and Britain, allies of Paris, also classify the group as a terrorist organization, but French officials say ostracizing the group would make it impossible to resolve the crisis.
“The French authorities will impose the most severe penalties for any illegal activity carried out by any foreign group on our territory,” said Agnes von der Mol.
The Lebanese authorities had confirmed that the massive explosion was caused by a shipment of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in one of the port’s pavilions for more than six years “without preventive measures” after it was confiscated during transport by a ship. cargo that left Georgia for Mozambique.
The exact reasons that led to the explosion are still unclear, at a time when the Lebanese authorities have not yet managed to empty the port of “crackers of death.”
And the Lebanese army found a quantity of explosives in the port of Beirut.
On Friday, the army confirmed that it had found 1.3 tons of explosives during a search in the port of Beirut, which was destroyed last month by a massive explosion caused by the improper storage of a large quantity of chemical explosives, causing a disaster that killed 191 people and injured more than 6,500 injured, in addition to enormous property damage estimated at at least $ 6.7 billion.
And on whether the United States is establishing a link between the explosion and Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist organization, Sells did not give a direct answer, but did not rule out this hypothesis, saying: “This is what we know: We know that Hezbollah has stored huge amounts of ammonium nitrate in Europe. “We also know from what we witnessed in Beirut, the great destructive power of ammonium nitrate, which is capable of causing massive damage if used as an explosive,” he added.
“Therefore, the United States calls for a thorough, open, transparent and in-depth investigation into the Beirut explosion, and we hope to see its results quickly,” he added.
