Jumblat Says Assad 'Imported' Ammonium Nitrate that Devastated Beirut
The 2,755 tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded on August 4 at Beirut port and devastated swathes of the capital had been “imported” by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat charged on Friday.
In a tweet, Jumblat said Assad had imported the ammonium nitrates to “use them in barrel bombs against his people.”
Jumblat’s tweet was mainly aimed at responding to recent remarks by Assad, who has blamed Syria’s current economic and financial crisis on Lebanon’s banks.
“After he looted, destroyed and displaced most of Syria, after he benefited from all types of subsidized goods smuggling from Lebanon, and after he destroyed Beirut port with the nitrates that he imported to use in barrel bombs against his people, it seems that he intends to destroy the Lebanese banking system,” the PSP leader said.
“Is the theory of forensic auditing part of this course?” Jumblat wondered.
In addition to the massive material and economic damage it caused, the port explosion killed around 200 people and wounded over 6,500 others. It has been blamed on the negligence of Lebanese officials, who had left the dangerous shipment to languish at the port unsecured for around seven years.
Source: Naharnet
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