Washington ready to offer aid to Lebanon “when politicians commit to change”

Official secret of the army and the Ministry of Defense

The Lebanese Army Command was satisfied with a brief statement, in which it announced that it had launched investigations into the causes of the Ain Qana explosion.

In turn, the official “National Media Agency” declared: “The explosion coincided with the intensive flight of hostile combat aircraft and espionage, which had not left the airspace of the Nabatiyeh and Iqlim al-Tuffah regions since the morning “.

On the other hand, Reuters reported that the explosion occurred in a house belonging to Hezbollah, which is being used as a weapons warehouse.

The Defense Ministry did not comment on the brief statement from the army. Sources from her media office indicated, in an interview with Al-Hurra, that the minister refuses to make a statement in this regard because she is part of an interim government, she has no basis or information about the incident, and that you do not want to insert it in this file.

The Ain Qana explosion was distinguished from others, in the presence of a warning tweet, published by an account called “Alex Benjmani”, on August 7, a young Lebanese resident in Norway, who identifies as a “former detainee in the Hezbollah prisons, “revealing about the manufacturing of devices inside. Residential neighborhoods in the southern city.

This photo is in the southern city of Ain Qana. #Lebanon . Elements are used in the right place #Hezbollah_terrorist Several houses for the so-called engineering unit, where boats (thunder, sjil, Asif) are made in this place. In this place near the houses of the two security personnel there is a store that contains tons of (C4, RDX, TNT) pic.twitter.com/ygA3Pfwj3w

– Alex Benjamin (@ Alexbenjamin87) August 7, 2020

Rocket launchers and explosives between residential neighborhoods

In an interview with Al-Hurra, Benjmani revealed that “the explosion occurred in a container factory and not in the warehouse, which would have caused a humanitarian catastrophe if it exploded,” noting that “the store is only meters from the factory.” Other stores “.

He denied that the explosion occurred at a gas station or inside a center affiliated with the “Generations for Peace” association, as promoted by party supporters on social networks, stating that “the association is mainly affiliated with the terrorist organization, and retired personnel, especially workers in the engineering and manufacturing unit, are registered with their owners. ” “.

Benjmani added that “between the Jarjou and Al-Rayhan regions, there is a party camp known as Al-Morouj, and it contains missile launchers and explosive materials between neighborhoods,” indicating that there is no specific source for his information, and the The matter is related to his friends in some southern towns, and there is no connection between his tweet and the date of the explosion. , Considering it “just a coincidence”.

Carelessness in storage and manufacturing

In this context, the sources explained to Al-Hurra’s website, “There is no safety record behind the Ain Qana explosion, all there is is that there is a clear negligence in manufacturing and storage,” noting that ” no deaths were recorded because partisan elements were outside their working hours. “

A Hezbollah defector living in a European country also told Al-Hurra that “in every southern town there is a weapons store, and between every three houses there is a military storage site,” explaining that “after the assassination of the military commander Imad Mughniyeh in 2008, the party devised a plan known as Radwan’s readiness to engage the enemy at any time, they said.

“The plan is based on achieving self-sufficiency in ammunition and weapons for each town (an average of 10,000 bombs), through a warehouse that is usually at the end of the town, and a factory in the middle of two houses, where they live partisan elements to ensure protection, and it is customary to place a written sign on it, a factory ”, he added. Cheese and milk to camouflage “.

He stressed that “factories and warehouses are scattered throughout the Lebanese lands and within residential neighborhoods in different shapes and forms, and there are tunnels, especially on the South-Beirut highway.”

Regarding the Rafic Hariri International Airport, the defector said: “Each retired party member has two main visits to Iran for training purposes, and after the Syrian crisis, the members traveled through the Beirut airport, and upon returning aboard Civil planes of various companies, we were seeing with our eyes trucks loaded with closed boxes. And move it to another place inside the airport. “

A tunnel connecting the Lebanese Bekaa with the countryside of Damascus

In turn, Abu Ali (a pseudonym), from the town of Tafil, which lies deep in the eastern mountain range of Lebanon and intertwines the Syrian territories, confirmed that “Hezbollah has weapons warehouses and drug factories in the town, in addition to secret tunnels that reach Damascus. “

He stressed that “there is a tunnel linking the Bekaa governorate with the Zabadani area in the western countryside of Damascus,” and said that “drugs and weapons find their way into those tunnels, that no one confronts them.” .

In this month of September there was an explosion in a munitions warehouse belonging to Hezbollah, between the city of Baalbek and the town of Nabi Sheet in the Lebanese Bekaa, which is one of the party’s areas of influence, in which seven died people and four were slightly injured, according to local media.

With multiple fingers accusing the party of storing weapons in residential neighborhoods, the Maronite Patriarch, passing by Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, hinted last August that the party did.

In Sunday’s sermon at the time, he said: “The weapons depots are located between the Lebanese suburbs, and the bombing of the port sounds the alarm for action.”

Al-Ra’i added that some areas have been turned into explosives fields, and we do not know when and who will detonate them, considering that they pose a threat to the lives of Lebanese who do not feel safe in their homes.

International test

In this context too, the US State Department coordinator for the fight against terrorism, Nathan Sales, previously said, “Iran is using the port of Beirut to transfer ammunition and weapons to Hezbollah, as published by the British newspaper. “The Guardian” last week.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper revealed, in a report drawn up with the Israeli Research Center “Alma”, at least 28 sites to store and launch rockets that the party uses in civilian areas under its influence in Beirut, the south and Bekaa.

He explained that the sites are in different areas, all of which are designed to launch, store and produce the Fateh 110 / M600 medium-range missiles.

“The world must understand and know that these launch sites are at the heart of civil, residential and urban infrastructure,” said Alma Center Head of Research Tal Berry.

And he considered that Hezbollah is using the Lebanese population as human shields by “not hesitating to place missile launch sites near public buildings, educational institutions, factories, etc.”

During his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously revealed three weapons storage sites, which are a football stadium for the Hezbollah-backed Al-Ahed Club, al north of the Rafic Hariri International Airport, and a third. At the bottom of the port.