grasschip

An edited version of the Gordon Duff (Veterans Today) interview from the Telewebion Coverage of the Beirut Blast.

Note: If anyone is able to provide a translation of the original report please get in touch.

Within an hour after the explosion Veterans Today received contact from a senior retired defence official in Lebanon, claiming proof the explosion was an attack by Israel. He claimed that a warehouse had been hit twice, firstly by a sea-based small missile, then a larger missile believed to be a tactical nuclear weapon from an F-16 Fighter.

Veterans Today was subsequently sent a video of the second blast which included footage of what appeared to be a guided missile. Post-processing examination could find no evidence that the video had been altered.

Because of the time lapse between explosions, people were able to capture footage of the second blast, including infra-red videos which went through processing and examination by Veterans Today. They were able to isolate clear images of what looked to be a "thirty-plus foot surface-to-surface missile".

According to Duff, the report was reviewed by Generals from the United States Pentagon whom, after also reviewing American intelligence from the region, contacted the President of the United States. Donald Trump subsequently announced that it appeared as though Lebanon had been attacked by a "bomb of some kind".

Donald Trump: ..we have a very good relationship with the people of Lebanon and we will be there to help. It looks like a terrible attack.

Reporter: ..are you confident this was an attack and not an accident?

Donald Trump: It seemed like it based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not some kind of a manufacturing-explosion-type of event.. they seem to think it was an attack, it was a bomb of some kind.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz announced five days earlier (July 31st) a shift in Israeli policy, announcing that Lebanon will bear responsibility for any Hezbollah attack. According to Israel Hayom, "Gantz has instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to bomb Lebanese infrastructure if Hezbollah harms Israeli soldiers or civilians".

Israel's unequivocal threat that Lebanon will bear responsibility for any Hezbollah attack is meant to foment pressure against the terrorist group at home.. Thursday's order marked the first time Israel has officially declared it will harm Lebanon even in response to an isolated-tactical attack.. This is a dramatic policy shift because in previous rounds of fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah, Israel has avoided bombing Lebanese infrastructure.

Reports vary, but the crater left by the explosion measures approximately 500 feet across, and at least 21 feet deep. According to Duff, for this to have been caused by Ammonium Nitrate (as has been widely reported), it would require a slurry (semi-liquid mixture) of Ammonium Nitrate combined with hydrocarbon fuel (fossil fuels). So far there has been no evidence of an explosive mix. Duff has been informed by experts from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the Italian government that approximately 12,000 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate and thousands of gallons of hydrocarbon fuel would be required to duplicate such an explosion, an amount of Ammonium Nitrate far greater than that which has been reported (2750 tonnes).

Duff further asserts that a clear set of proofs is lacking that millions of dollars of high grade fertiliser sat in a warehouse for six years, and claims to have documented evidence that the Ammonium Nitrate back story is in fact a hoax.

In an article from WAAY-TV, retired ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) investigator Anthony May was quoted as saying that the blast:

.. is typical of what would be equivalent to a kiloton nuclear bomb going off as far as the explosive weight is concerned.. there was no nuclear material that we know of involved in this, but the shock wave generated, the blast wave generated is the equivalent to a small nuclear device.

He also told CNN that the pink cloud that was seen was "not consistent with ammonium nitrate." According to May, the telltale sign of an ammonium nitrate explosive was a yellow smoke cloud.

Former CIA agent Robert Baer told CNN:

It was clearly a military explosive.. It was not fertilizer like ammonium nitrate. I'm quite sure of that.. You look at that orange ball (of fire), and it's clearly, like I said, a military explosive.

The official twitter account of the Israeli Prime Minister's office seems to agree:

Translation:

The Prime Minister noted that in order to prevent disasters of the Beirut port type, the explosives and missiles that Hezbollah has planted should be kept away from all concentrations of the civilian population in Lebanon. The Prime Minister made it clear that if Hezbollah thinks they can solve the crisis in Lebanon by creating a crisis with Israel - it would be a big mistake.

Progressive Jewish blogger Richard Silverstein (Tikun Olam) posted on the day of the blast:

A confidential highly-informed Israeli source has told me that Israel caused the massive explosion at the Beirut port earlier today which killed over 100 and injured thousands.. The source received this information from an Israeli official having special knowledge concerning the matter.. Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot at the port and planned to destroy it with an explosive device.

From Alison Tahmizian Meuse of the Asia Times, former Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk claimed at a press conference on the 12th August:

This operation in Beirut was carried out by Israel in a clear and explicit manner.. It is clear we are looking at a crime against humanity, and therefore no one dares to claim responsibility for it.

Machnouk also alleges that "missile remnants had been discovered in the rubble of the blast" and has accused judicial authorities overseeing the investigation of keeping this finding hidden. Meuse goes on to say that according to Lebanese sources, disclosure of an Israeli attack would "provoke further investigations into what exactly was being targeted, and raise questions for all Lebanese factions.. as to how they allowed the port to be militarized."

-grasschip