Massive explosion of stored fireworks/explosives in Beriut, dozens dead, thousand injured, city evacuated.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

A massive explosion shook Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday afternoon wounding a "very high number" of people, according to a minister.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hasan told local television channel LBC that the explosion near the city port had caused a “very high number of injuries” and extensive damage.

A huge mushroom cloud was seen over the capital and thick smoke billowed over the city centre.

An Associated Press photographer near Beirut’s port witnessed people wounded on the ground and widespread destruction flattening much of the port.

Witnesses reported windows and doors blowing out and false ceilings dropping with many people injured by flying glass and debris.

The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.

Some local TV stations reported the blast was at Beirut’s port inside an area where firecrackers were stored.

Lebanon's state-run NNA news agency said a major fire broke out near the port and firefighters were at the scene.

The incident comes as Lebanon passes through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades.

Link.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53656220#

A large blast in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has killed at least 70 people and injured more than 4,000 others, the health minister says.

Videos show smoke billowing from a fire, then a mushroom cloud following the blast at the city's port.

Officials are blaming highly explosive materials stored in a warehouse for six years.

President Michel Aoun tweeted it was "unacceptable" that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely.

An investigation is under way to find the exact trigger for the explosion. Lebanon's Supreme Defence Council said those responsible would face the "maximum punishment" possible.

Hospitals are said to be overwhelmed and many buildings have been destroyed.

President Aoun declared a three-day mourning period, and said the government would release 100 billion lira (£50.5m; $66m) of emergency funds.

A BBC journalist at the scene reported dead bodies and severe damage, enough to put the port of Beirut out of action.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab called it a catastrophe and said those responsible must be held to account.

He spoke of a "dangerous warehouse" which had been there since 2014, but said he would not pre-empt the investigation.

Local media showed people trapped beneath rubble. A witness described the first explosion as deafening, and video footage showed wrecked cars and blast-damaged buildings.

"All the buildings around here have collapsed. I'm walking through glass and debris everywhere, in the dark," one witness near the port told AFP news agency.

The blast was heard 240km (150 miles) away on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.

The explosion comes at a sensitive time for Lebanon, with an economic crisis reigniting old divisions. Tensions are also high ahead of Friday's verdict in a trial over the killing of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

'Glass going down from all over the building'
Hadi Nasrallah, eyewitness speaking to the BBC

I saw the fire, but I didn't yet know there was going to be an explosion. We went inside. Suddenly I lost my hearing because apparently I was too close. I lost my hearing for a few seconds, I knew something was wrong.

And then suddenly the glass just shattered all over the car, the cars around us, the shops, the stores, the buildings. Just glass going down from all over the building.

Literally all over Beirut, people were calling each other from different areas kilometres away and they were experiencing the same thing: broken glass, buildings shaking, a loud explosion.

Actually we were shocked because usually when it happens, just one area will experience those happenings after an explosion, but this time it was all of Beirut, even areas outside of Beirut.

Sunniva Rose, journalist

"Driving into Beirut early evening when it was still light, it was absolute chaos. The streets were literally covered in glass. It's hard for ambulances to go through - there's bricks, cement slabs. Houses have collapsed.

"When I got to the port it had been closed off by the army. The army said to stay away in case there was a second explosion.

"There was still smoke going up into the sky late into the evening. The whole city was black. It was very hard to walk around, people were covered in blood. I saw an 86-year-old woman being treated by a doctor who had just run out of his home with a first aid kit. Cars were entirely smashed by rocks. These old-style houses with big cuts of rock had just fallen down on the street.

"It's pandemonium in my own flat, all the glass is shattered. The extent of the damage is extreme. Even in a mall 2km away - the whole facade was shattered."

How have other countries reacted?
Lebanon's prime minister also called for international help: "I make an urgent appeal to friendly and brotherly countries... to stand by Lebanon and to help us heal our deep wounds," Hassan Diab said.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: "The pictures and videos from Beirut tonight are shocking. All of my thoughts and prayers are with those caught up in this terrible incident.

"The UK is ready to provide support in any way we can, including to those British nationals affected."

US President Donald Trump sent his deepest sympathies after what he called "a terrible attack", and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered assistance, tweeting: "We are monitoring and stand ready to assist the people of Lebanon as they recover from this horrible tragedy."

Buildings were shattered, balconies ripped off
France said it was sending aid and resources to Lebanon.

Iran would "render assistance in any way necessary" Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, while Saudi Arabia expressed its full solidarity with Lebanon.

Israel said in a statement that it had "approached Lebanon through international security and diplomatic channels and has offered the Lebanese government medical and humanitarian assistance".

The German foreign ministry said the blast had been felt at its embassy in the city.

"We cannot for the moment exclude German nationals figuring among the dead and wounded," it said in a statement.

A massive recovery effort is under way
What's the situation in Lebanon?
Lebanon is experiencing political turmoil, with street demonstrations against the government's handling of the worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Many blame the ruling elite who have dominated politics for years and amassed their own wealth while failing to carry out the sweeping reforms necessary to solve the country's problems. People have to deal with daily power cuts, a lack of safe drinking water and limited public healthcare.

There has also been tension on the border with Israel, which said last week that it had thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to infiltrate Israeli territory. But a senior Israeli official has told the BBC that "Israel has no connection" to the Beirut blast.

The blast happened close to the scene of the huge car bombing which killed ex-PM Hariri. Tuesday's blast also came days before the long-awaited verdict in the trial at a special court in the Netherlands of four men accused of orchestrating the attack.

The blast struck Beirut's port district and beyond
Are you in Beirut? Have you been affected by the blast? If it is safe for you to do so, please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803
Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy
Or use the form below

Your contact details
Name

The Lebanese government is evacuating the entire city: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290738020166008833

Fuhrer Trump, never one to pass up an opportunity to make a bad thing worse, suggested (apparently falsely) that it was an attack.

The blast was so large that it created a massive shockwave and mushroom cloud, and conspiracy theorists are claiming (again, falsely) that it was a nuclear bomb: https://vice.com/en_us/article/7kpdxz/c ... -it-wasn't

Haven't found a good source yet, but I've seen estimates that this was in the three kiloton range, making it comparable in power to a small nuke, and one of the largest non-nuclear human-made explosions in history.

[The Romulan Republic]

Some video of the blast, and yeah, I can see why a non-expert observer would think it was a nuke:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=93tV6-0Ugwk

[LadyTevar]

THREADS MERGED!

[The Romulan Republic]

Reports that people felt the blast in Cyprus. I don't know if that's true, but if it is... I checked and Cyprus is about 200 km away.

[Col. Crackpot]

What utter moron stores 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate next to a fireworks factory and a grain silo? Odds are they’ll never answer for it on account of being atomized. Awful. Poor Beirut can’t ever catch a break.

[Zaune]

Fuhrer Trump, never one to pass up an opportunity to make a bad thing worse, suggested (apparently falsely) that it was an attack.

In the interests of being scrupulously fair and accurate, I should note that foul play is not even close to being ruled out yet. Negligence is definitely a major factor, but it's entirely possible that the building was set on fire deliberately.

Although it's going to be a ball-ache to prove anything unless a witness comes forward or security footage is recovered. A blast on that scale isn't going to leave forensic investigators much to work with.

[Ace Pace]

What utter moron stores 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate next to a fireworks factory and a grain silo? Odds are they’ll never answer for it on account of being atomized. Awful. Poor Beirut can’t ever catch a break.

The utter moron with no alternative. Lebanon has no size, no infrastructure to speak of. Safely disposing of the ammonium is also an issue.

[Zaune]

Apparently the ammonium nitrate got dumped on the quayside because nobody showed up to collect it, and the port authority had to do something with it (the stuff can become dangerously unstable if you let it get damp, for example) so they moved it temporarily into the only free warehouse they had... six years ago. Why they didn't put it up for auction after n months without hearing from the buyer I'm not sure, but in fairness that's not the kind of thing you want to be selling off at fire-sale prices to anyone who shows up, especially not in the Middle East.

[Captain Seafort]

Although it's going to be a ball-ache to prove anything unless a witness comes forward or security footage is recovered. A blast on that scale isn't going to leave forensic investigators much to work with.

AH.com has an image of the site. I suspect a forensic investigation will be somewhat tricky.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Although it's going to be a ball-ache to prove anything unless a witness comes forward or security footage is recovered. A blast on that scale isn't going to leave forensic investigators much to work with.

AH.com has an image of the site. I suspect a forensic investigation will be somewhat tricky.

Have to be logged in to view that.

Casualty estimates are at 130 dead and thousands injured. Given the size of the blast, that estimate can only go up.

[Lord Revan]

What utter moron stores 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate next to a fireworks factory and a grain silo? Odds are they’ll never answer for it on account of being atomized. Awful. Poor Beirut can’t ever catch a break.

The utter moron with no alternative. Lebanon has no size, no infrastructure to speak of. Safely disposing of the ammonium is also an issue.

From what I've gather that shipment got caught in some red tape too so it just sat in a warehouse never meant to store that stuff for years. This does seem a case of incompetence rather then malice at least it wasn't a case of any long term plan.

[Captain Seafort]

Although it's going to be a ball-ache to prove anything unless a witness comes forward or security footage is recovered. A blast on that scale isn't going to leave forensic investigators much to work with.

AH.com has an image of the site. I suspect a forensic investigation will be somewhat tricky.

Have to be logged in to view that.

Bollocks. Try this, from the Beeb, and scroll down a bit.

[Elfdart]

If ammonium nitrate is about half as powerful as TNT, and they had 2.5-3 tons of it, then that alone -not counting the grain silo or fireworks warehouse- was about 1/5th the explosive power as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Can someone check my math here?

[TimothyC]

If ammonium nitrate is about half as powerful as TNT, and they had 2.5-3 tons of it, then that alone -not counting the grain silo or fireworks warehouse- was about 1/5th the explosive power as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Can someone check my math here?

Ammonium Nitrate has a quarter of the specific energy of TNT when it decomps as a monoprop, and there were 2700 tons of it. These numbers, combined with what we saw, make a yeild in the 200-700T range likely (yeah, that's a big range, but I've seen numbers all over that, and due to the placement, it could have acted like a shaped/directed charge, making yield estimates hard). That puts it between 1.5 and 4.7% of Little Boy.

[Enigma]

If ammonium nitrate is about half as powerful as TNT, and they had 2.5-3 tons of it, then that alone -not counting the grain silo or fireworks warehouse- was about 1/5th the explosive power as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Can someone check my math here?

Not 2.5 to 3 tons. Its 2,750 tonnes.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

If ammonium nitrate is about half as powerful as TNT, and they had 2.5-3 tons of it, then that alone -not counting the grain silo or fireworks warehouse- was about 1/5th the explosive power as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Can someone check my math here?

Not 2.5 to 3 tons. Its 2,750 tonnes.

Hence the crude estimates assuming it has the same explosive power as TNT ballparking it at 2.5-3 kilotons.

[MKSheppard]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -in-hangar#_=_

A former port worker, Yusuf Shehadi, told the Guardian he had been instructed by the Lebanese military to house the chemicals in warehouse 12 at the port despite repeated protests by other government departments.

“We complained a lot about this over the years,” said Shehadi, who worked at the port until emigrating to Canada in March this year. “Every week, the customs people came and complained and so did the state security officers. The army kept telling them they had no other place to put this. Everyone wanted to be the boss, and no one wanted to make a real decision.”

In addition, the hangar housed a quantity of fireworks, Shehadi said, which customs had confiscated in about 2009-10 and which he said he had personally seen delivered on a forklift. “There were 30 to 40 nylon bags of fireworks inside warehouse 12,” he said.

“They were on the left-hand side when you entered the door. I used to complain about this. It wasn’t safe. There was also humidity there. This was a disaster waiting to happen. The port workers did not put the chemicals there in the first place. That outrage rests with the government.”

...

A second source has confirmed the fireworks’ presence, which was also the subject of media reports in Lebanon on Friday.

The emerging new picture of the circumstances that led to the blast comes as investigators and media organisations continue to try to piece together the cause of the fire and subsequent blast.

The claim that fireworks were being stored in the same warehouse as the ammonium nitrate appears to be confirmed by phone footage, apparently filmed by a port worker from the roof of the grain silos that overlooked the seat of the biggest blast – now a 150-metre-wide crater of seawater.

...

Shehadi said he had spoken to former colleagues at the port who said workers were attempting to fix a gate outside warehouse 12 with an electrical tool ahead of the blast. “This was at 5pm, and after 30 minutes they saw smoke. Firefighters came, and so did state security. Everyone died.”

If you want to get into tinfoil territory:

From Twitter: The former Lebanese justice minister, Ashtaf Rifi, just said that hangar 12 , the warehouse that exploded three days ago in Beirut, belonged to Hezbollah and that the organization controls a whole secured parameter at the port.

https://www.fasfreedom.com/2020/08/leba ... -happened/

Regarding hangars 9 and 12, Lebanese are universal in their belief that Hizballah rules the critical areas of the port as a government within a government. As head of the program on studying terrorism in Israel’s Herzliyah Center, Mordechai Kedar has noted that there are many videos of Hizballah officials bragging about their “Fatima Gate,” which is a nickname given their independent, clandestine port structure in Beirut completely out of the control and visibility of the Lebanese government.7 In those videos, it is noteworthy that Hizballah bragged that “the Fatima Gate” in Beirut port is where they can come and go at will, import and export freely, and smuggle unharassed, not only without interference by customs authorities, but often without their knowledge.

Kedar believes that the Hangar 9 and 12 structures are the noted “Fatima Gate.” They are closest to the water, meaning they are the most prime warehouses for unloading ships without being detected by satellite or aerial reconnaissance, and very close to the exit of the port as well. Lebanese port workers themselves regarded Hangar 12 as an off-limits Hizballah zone.

These two warehouses, being the closest to the waterline, were clearly the most sought-after structures for rapid movement and transfer, not long-term storage. Indeed, the port authority asked that the ammonium nitrate be removed to more distant storage sheds, but those requests were met with silence.

I have a crude theory about what happened:

Hizbollah has been using Warehouses 9/12 and other parts of the Beruit port complex as a clandestine transshipment point; so when that Russian ship showed up with a cargo of 2.7KT of AN, they were perfectly positioned to arrange it so that all that AN was unloaded directly into a warehouse that they controlled.

Because Lebanon has trucks -- it would only take 225 truck loads to move that amount of AN roughly at 12 tonnes per truck; and that's about 12 round trips for a fleet of 20 trucks -- the Lebanese Army is clearly lying when they say "no other place to put this." -- going to google maps, I found that it was only about 40 minutes driving time and 35~ km from Zaituna Bay (Beruit Marina) to Dahr El Baidar Train station, which is in a relatively sparse area. You can then blow up/burn the AN in small lots as it arrives via truck; it would then likely take a week or two to do it all safely.

Over the years, Hizbollah blocks all attempts to have that cargo moved from Warehouse 12, because thanks to their smuggling network (tunnels found nearby, etc); they can clandestinely remove off a few hundred to a thousand pounds at a time (with 2,700 tonnes, who's gonna notice a missing bag or two?) as needed for tactical operations or to "top off" other munitions sites they control.

Additionally, in the past Hizbollah HAS talked about blowing up Haifa port; so another reason for keeping the cargo there is so that they can keep the "suicide freighter with ANFO in hold" scheme open for their strategic planning. Also, by keeping it all there, it prevents the Israelis from blowing it up. It's one thing to blow up a munitions dump in the middle of nowhere with 25 tonnes of AN; another thing to blow up 2700 tonnes of it in the middle of a major urban centre.

Over time, classic middle east "inshallah" takes hold -- or maybe someone sees an opportunity to "consolidate" Customs' holdings, and sends over the fireworks that they confiscated in 2009-10 to the Warehouse -- the warehouse is already full of 2.7 KT of AN, what more is about 500 lbs of fireworks?

Remember, back in 2011, Cyprus blew up their only natural gas power plant by deciding to leave 481 tons of HE baking in the 115 degree sun for 2 years, despite multiple reports that all the HE was melting and pooling together on the floor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelos ... _explosion

[LadyTevar]

I was wondering when the Conspiracies would start.
We have a Tweet from a guy trying to save his skin, and we have a unknown source spinning a tale on it.

[The Romulan Republic]

Conspiracies started on the first day, with claims that it was a nuclear detonation, and Trump falsely referring to an "attack".

[MKSheppard]

I was wondering when the Conspiracies would start.
We have a Tweet from a guy trying to save his skin, and we have a unknown source spinning a tale on it.

From his wiki:

Ashraf Rifi (Arabic: أشرف ريفي‎; also spelled Achraf Rifi) (born 1 April 1954) was the general director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF; the national police) from 2005 to 2013. He served as minister of justice from 15 February 2014 to 21 February 2016.

He retired years ago.

As for the tunnels and stuff under the grain elevators; that's apparently a common thing in all modern grain elevators, since you need to have access points and such for the machinery in grain elevators to access them and clean out spilled grain from those points.

More information on inaction:

Link

Exclusive: Lebanon's leaders were warned in July about explosives at port - documents

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese security officials warned the prime minister and president last month that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut’s port posed a security risk and could destroy the capital if it exploded, according to documents seen by Reuters and senior security sources.

Just over two weeks later, the industrial chemicals went up in a massive blast that obliterated most of the port and swathes of the capital, killed at least 163 people, injured 6,000 and destroyed 6,000 buildings, according to municipal authorities.

A report by the General Directorate of State Security on events leading up to the explosion included a reference to a private letter sent to President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab on July 20.

While the content of the letter was not in the report seen by Reuters, a senior security official said it summed up the findings of a judicial investigation launched in January which concluded the chemicals needed to be secured immediately.

The state security report, which confirmed the correspondence to the president and the prime minister, has not previously been reported.

“There was a danger that this material, if stolen, could be used in a terrorist attack,” the official told Reuters.

“At the end of the investigation, Prosecutor General (Ghassan) Oweidat prepared a final report which was sent to the authorities,” he said, referring to the letter sent to the prime minister and president by the General Directorate of State Security, which oversees port security.

“I warned them that this could destroy Beirut if it exploded,” said the official, who was involved in writing the letter and declined to be named.

Reuters could not independently confirm his description of the letter.

The presidency did not respond to requests for comment about the July 20 letter.

A representative for Diab, whose government resigned on Monday following the blast, said the PM received the letter on July 20 and it was sent to the Supreme Defence Council for advice within 48 hours. “The current cabinet received the file 14 days prior to the explosion and acted on it in a matter of days. Previous administrations had over six years and did nothing.”

The prosecutor general did not respond to requests for comment.

‘DO WHAT IS NECESSARY’

The correspondence could fuel further criticism and public fury that the explosion is just the latest, if not most dramatic, example of the government negligence and corruption that have already pushed Lebanon to economic collapse.

As protests over the blast raged in Lebanon on Monday, Diab’s government resigned, though it will remain as a caretaker administration until a new cabinet is formed.

The rebuilding of Beirut alone is expected to cost up to $15 billion, in a country already effectively bankrupt with total banking system losses exceeding $100 billion.

Aoun confirmed last week that he had been informed about the material. He told reporters he had directed the secretary general of the Supreme Defence Council, an umbrella group of security and military agencies chaired by the president, to “do what is necessary”.

“(The state security service) said it is dangerous. I am not responsible! I don’t know where it was put and I didn’t know how dangerous it was. I have no authority to deal with the port directly. There is a hierarchy and all those who knew should have known their duties to do the necessary,” Aoun said.

Many questions remain over why the shipment of ammonium nitrate docked in Beirut in late 2013. Even more baffling is why such a huge stash of dangerous material, used in bombs and fertilisers, was allowed to remain there for so long.

The letter sent to Lebanon’s president and prime minister followed a string of memos and letters sent to the country’s courts over the previous six years by port, customs and security officials, repeatedly urging judges to order the removal of the ammonium nitrate from its position so close to the city centre.

The General Directorate of State Security’s report seen by Reuters said many requests had been submitted, without giving an exact number. It said the port’s manifest department sent several written requests to the customs directorate up until 2016 asking them to call on a judge to order the material be re-exported immediately.

“But until now, no decision has been issued over this matter. After consulting one of our chemical specialists, the expert confirmed that this material is dangerous and is used to produce explosives,” the General Directorate of State Security report said.

HAZARDOUS MATERIAL

The road to last week’s tragedy began seven years ago, when the Rhosus, a Russian-chartered, Moldovan-flagged vessel carrying ammonium nitrate from Georgia to Mozambique, docked in Beirut to try to take on extra cargo to cover the fees for passage through the Suez Canal, according to the ship’s captain.

Port authorities impounded the Rhosus in December 2013 by judicial order 2013/1031 due to outstanding debts owed to two companies that filed claims in Beirut courts, the state security report showed.

In May 2014, the ship was deemed unseaworthy and its cargo was unloaded in October 2014 and warehoused in what was known as Hangar 12. The ship sank near the port’s breakwater on Feb. 18, 2018, the security report showed.

Moldova lists the owner of the ship as Panama-based Briarwood Corp. Briarwood could not immediately be reached for comment.

In February 2015, Nadim Zwain, a judge from the Summary Affairs Court, which deals with urgent issues, appointed an expert to inspect the cargo, according to the security report.

The report said the expert concluded that the material was hazardous and, through the port authorities, requested it be transferred to the army. Reuters could not independently confirm the expert’s account.

Lebanese army command rejected the request and recommended the chemicals be transferred or sold to the privately owned Lebanese Explosives Company, the state security report said.

The report did not say why the army had refused to accept the cargo. A security official told Reuters it was because they didn’t need it. The army declined to comment.

The explosives company’s management told Reuters it had not been interested in purchasing confiscated material and the firm had its own suppliers and government import licences.

From then on, customs and security officials wrote to judges roughly every six months asking for the removal of the material, according to the requests seen by Reuters.

Judges and customs officials contacted by Reuters declined to comment.

‘BAD STORAGE AND BAD JUDGMENT’

In January 2020, a judge launched an official investigation after it was discovered that Hangar 12 was unguarded, had a hole in its southern wall and one of its doors dislodged, meaning the hazardous material was at risk of being stolen.

In his final report following the investigation, Prosecutor General Oweidat “gave orders immediately” to ensure hangar doors and holes were repaired and security provided, a second high-ranking security official who also requested anonymity said.

On June 4, based on those orders, state security instructed port authorities to provide guards at Hangar 12, appoint a director for the warehouse and secure all the doors and repair the hole in the southern wall, according to the state security report and security officials.

The port authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“The maintenance started and (port authorities) sent a team of Syrian workers (but) there was no one supervising them when they entered to fix the holes,” the security official said.

During the work, sparks from welding took hold and fire started to spread, the official said.

“Given that there were fireworks stored in the same hangar, after an hour a big fire was set off by the fireworks and that spread to the material that exploded when the temperature exceeded 210 degrees,” the high-ranking security official said.

The official blamed port authorities for not supervising the repair crew and for storing fireworks alongside a vast deposit of high explosives.

Reuters could not determine what happened to the workers repairing the hangar.

“Only because the hangar faces the sea, the impact of the explosion was reduced. Otherwise all of Beirut would have been destroyed,” he said. “The issue is all about negligence, irresponsibility, bad storage and bad judgment.”

[Solauren]

I have no problem believing that this was caused by government stupidity.

If the people I wrote a program for can not understand the message "As stated in the earlier email - Administration has locked this program for routine maintaince. DO not attempt to login until you receive an email authorizing it", and flood me with emails...

I can completely see someone going 'Yeah, leave all that explosive material there, it's fine."

However....
I can also see someone learning about that, and deciding it would be useful/fun to detonate it.

[Elfdart]

I saw an interview with Rania Khalek, a Lebanese-American journalist who was nearby when the docks exploded, and she said (a) the cargo ship the ammonium nitrate was on was headed for Mozambique, (b) the only reason the ship ended up in Beirut is that the ship was having mechanical problems and Beirut was the nearest port, (c) the crew deserted because they hadn't been paid and the ship was running low on supplies, (d) the owner of the ship couldn't be found so Lebanon confiscated the cargo, (e) none of the factions making up the Lebanese "government" -including the armed forces or Hezbollah*- wanting anything to do with disposing of the ammonium nitrate, so it was just piled up in a warehouse near the docks -with predictable results.

* Hezbollah has their own sources for high explosives, getting them overland from Syria and Iran. Getting them via the Beirut docks is unlikely since they have little presence or influence in that part of town and their opponents/enemies do.