Two huge explosions rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, killing and wounding dozens of people, shaking buildings and sending huge plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. Lebanese media carried images of people trapped under rubble, some bloodied, after the massive explosions, the cause of which was not immediately known.
A security source confirmed that two explosions shook the port area of the city, Lebanon’s largest urban area. Georges Kettaneh, the president of the Lebanese Red Cross, referred to “hundreds of wounded” in a statement on Lebanese LBC television, adding: “We are overwhelmed by phone calls.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hasan Diab has declared Wednesday a day of mourning.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said every shop in the Hamra commercial district had sustained damage, with entire shopfronts destroyed, windows shattered and many cars wrecked.
Injured people were walking in the street, while outside the Clemenceau Medical Centre, dozens of wounded people, many covered in blood, were rushing to be admitted to the center including children.
A soldier at the port, who asked not to be named, told AFP: “It’s a catastrophe inside. There are corpses on the ground. Ambulances are still lifting the dead.”
A huge cloud of black smoke was engulfing the entire port area, the AFP correspondent said.
The White House said President Trump had been briefed on the incident and the U.S. State Department released a statement saying it was “closely following” the situation.
“We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected, and stand ready to offer all possible assistance,” the statement said. “We are working closely with local authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens were affected.”
“Buildings are shaking,” tweeted one resident, while another wrote: “An enormous, deafening explosion just engulfed Beirut. Heard it from miles away.”
Online footage from a Lebanese newspaper office showed blown out windows, scattered furniture and demolished interior panelling.
The explosions came at a time when Lebanon is suffering its worst economic crisis in decades, which has left nearly half of the population in poverty.
Lebanon’s economy has collapsed in recent months, with the local currency plummeting against the dollar, businesses closing en masse and poverty soaring at the same alarming rate as unemployment.
The explosions also come as Lebanon awaits the verdict on Friday on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, killed in a huge truck bomb attack.
Four alleged members of the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist group Hezbollah are on trial in absentia at the court in the Netherlands over the huge Beirut suicide bombing that killed Sunni billionaire Hariri and 21 other people.
A woman in the city center told AFP: “It felt like an earthquake … I felt it was bigger than the explosion in the assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2005”.
Tensions have also been high with neighboring Israel, after Israel said it thwarted an infiltration attempt by up to five Hezbollah gunmen, a claim denied by the Iran-backed group.
