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After the explosions, the exact cause of which is still unknown, the Lebanese media published photos of people trapped in the ruins of buildings, some of them spilled with blood.
Some reports say the explosions took place in a former fireworks warehouse in the port.
#BREAK – Injuries to #Beirut, #Lebanon they are “in the thousands”, according to local media.
The video shows the massive explosion in slow motion. pic.twitter.com/btwPiDmIlo
– SV News 🚨 (@SVNewsAlerts) August 4, 2020
A source from the security services confirmed that two explosions shook in the port area and that dozens of people were injured.
A soldier in the port, who wanted his name not to be released, told the AFP news agency: “There is a real disaster inside. The corpses lie on the ground. Ambulances continue to transport the dead. “
An official with the National News Agency confirmed the deaths, but did not report any numbers.
This is the time when an explosion occurred in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The blast appeared to be centered around the city’s port area containing warehouses and spread to various areas of the capital.
Get the latest on this story here: https://t.co/UH3Jscyfkr pic.twitter.com/lIzHr7CPio
– SkyNews (@SkyNews) August 4, 2020
An AFP correspondent at the scene said all the stores in Hamra’s business district were damaged, dozens of shop windows and arches were smashed, and many cars were destroyed.
The wounded walked the streets of the city, and scores of bloody people, including children, were taken to the nearby Clemenceau Medical Center.
A huge cloud of smoke rose into the sky above the port area, an AFP correspondent said.
Loud explosions were heard in much of the city and beyond; Electricity has been lost in some areas.
BREAKING: Live after a massive explosion in Beirut. https://t.co/SyEH5X94Ra
– NBC News (@NBCNews) August 4, 2020
“The buildings are shaking,” wrote a resident of the capital on the social network Twitter.
“Beirut has just been shaken by a powerful inflamed explosion. I heard it from miles away,” wrote another Twitter user.
Images of the port of Beirut immediately after the explosion#Beirut #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/pvDrMk8AWI
– CNW (@ConflictsW) August 4, 2020
An online photo from an editorial in a Lebanese newspaper shows broken windows, unfolded furniture, and ruined interiors.
The explosions were even heard in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, some 240 kilometers away.
The explosions rocked debt-affected Lebanon in the face of the worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, exacerbated by quarantine measures introduced by the new coronavirus.
The country is also awaiting a verdict in the case of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Billionaire R. Hariri died in an explosion in central Beirut. The court is to announce the verdict on Friday.
Four members of the Lebanese Shiite paramilitary movement Hezbollah are being tried in the Netherlands for a suicide bombing in Beirut that killed a Sunni Hariri and 21 others.
A woman told the AFP news center in the center of the capital: “It was like an earthquake … It turned out to me that it was more powerful than the 2005 explosion that killed Hariri.”
Tensions persist in Lebanon’s relations with Israel, which has announced that it has prevented five Hezbollah fighters from infiltrating into the territory of the Jewish state.
The Iranian-backed movement rejected these allegations.
Israel has declared that it is not involved in the powerful bombings in the port of Beirut
Israeli soldiers said Tuesday that their forces had nothing to do with the two powerful explosions that swept through the Beirut port area, which reportedly injured hundreds of people and possibly killed dozens.
An Israel Defense Forces source told television that the Jewish state was not bombing the Lebanese capital.
“It just came to our attention then [šiitų sukarinto judėjimo] Hezbollah Ammunition Depot. This event is not related to [Izraelio] security, “he emphasized.
Several Arab media outlets quoted Hezbollah as saying that previous reports that the organization’s ammunition depot had exploded were not true.
The move also noted that the cause of the explosion was not an Israeli blow to one of its objects.
After two powerful explosions in the port of Beirut, whose shock waves devastated a large area of the city, a large fire broke out at the epicenter of the incident.
Georges Kettaneh, president of the Lebanese Red Cross, spoke of hundreds of injuries on LBC television and added: “We were paralyzed by an avalanche of phone calls.”
Firefighters and doctors, including Red Cross personnel, work on the scene.
All hospitals in Beirut were reported to be prepared for a large influx of victims.
Initial media reports say the blast rocked the fireworks warehouse. Health Minister Hammad Hassan later said the pyrotechnic-laden ship exploded.
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