Will Beirut blast make Hezbollah remove arsenal from residential areas?

Lebanon was already in the midst of an unprecedented calamity, on the brink of collapse due to a severe economic crisis, when the explosion took place – and Hezbollah is not immune to that.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area (photo credit: MOHAMED AZAKIR / REUTERS)
A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area
(photo credit: MOHAMED AZAKIR / REUTERS)
Four years after Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened to hit Haifa’s ammonia tank, Nasrallah saw with his own eyes what such an explosion would do. But it wasn’t in Israel: It was in his own country.
On Tuesday evening, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a hangar at the city’s port exploded, causing a massive explosion and shock wave that tore through Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, killing more than 100 people and injuring thousands.
When Nasrallah threatened Haifa in 2016, he said it “would be exactly like a nuclear bomb... any rocket that might hit these tanks is capable of creating an effect similar to a nuclear bomb.” Shortly after the explosion, Twitter users speculated that it could have been one such rocket that caused the explosion.
Though this was quickly ruled out, Beirut was devastated. Pictures from the once Paris of the Middle East were reminiscent of war zones in Grozny and Aleppo.
Residents of Beirut have quickly laid the blame on Lebanese officials who, according to reports, knew of the dangers posed by the dangerous cargo that had been placed in Hanger 12 of Beirut Port, after being offloaded from a Russian-owned cargo ship flying a Moldovan flag that had been heading from Georgia to Mozambique.
According to a report in Al Jazeera, numerous letters had been sent from customs officials asking for a solution, but all went unanswered.
While many Lebanese are pointing to rampant mismanagement in Lebanon, which is notorious for the corruption of politicians and officials, one party has remained relatively mum on the subject: Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has a significant arsenal of explosives, missiles, ammunition and more stored in populated areas across the country, including in Beirut.
A July report by the ALMA Research and Education Center found that the group has at least 28 missile launching sites, command and control infrastructure, missile assembly sites, rocket fuel storage sites and missile bunkers next to high schools, clinics, hospitals, golf clubs and soccer fields as well as the Iranian Embassy and the Lebanese Ministry of Defense.
Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, also accused Hezbollah and Iran of using Beirut Port to transfer weapons using commercial companies.
“Israel discovered that Iran and its Quds Force have been exploiting civilian maritime channels, and specifically the Port of Beirut,” Danon said. “The Iranian regime is transferring weapons in various ways. They use commercial companies, mainly from Europe, to support Hezbollah and develop its missile program. Unfortunately, the Port of Beirut has become Hezbollah’s port.”
Lebanon was already in the midst of an unprecedented calamity, on the brink of collapse due to a severe economic crisis, when the explosion took place – and Hezbollah is not immune to that.
Israeli officials have warned that should another war with the terror group break out, it would “send Lebanon back to the Stone Age” as the country’s infrastructure is used by Hezbollah. Unfortunately, residents of Beirut got a taste of just that on Tuesday. And not from war, but from a catastrophic failure and mismanagement by the ruling class.
With the country falling off an economic cliff and temperatures rising – and not just meteorologically – opposition to Hezbollah’s grip on the country is also growing.
Following the deadly explosion, will the Lebanese street once again rise up and force the political leadership to force Hezbollah to finally move their arsenals away from civilian centers? Or will Hezbollah’s grip on the country only tighten?
With such mismanagement of handling the dangerous and explosive material, as well as organized crime which is run from the port, it was a disaster waiting to happen. A disaster that Lebanon could not afford.
Should Hezbollah keep their massive explosive arsenals in residential areas, it’s a disaster that will only repeat itself should a war break out. Lebanon should not be subject to – and cannot afford – another disaster on that level.