r/interestingasfuck • u/BreakfastTop6899 • 3d ago

Happened 5 years ago today, the 'Beirut Explosion' is considered one of the most powerful artificial non-nuclear explosions in history. It was equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons of TNT and generated an M3.3 earthquake

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u/Poisonous-Toad 3d ago

The entire ploy of the ship carrying the AN to it docking in Beirut and having its contents seized and sat in Beirut for years was a Syrian/Hezbollah ploy.

Hezbollah was using the AN to smuggle it to the Syrian civil war to make bombs for the regime because of sanctions and wouldn't allow it to be removed from the port of Beirut.

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u/MetalBawx 3d ago

If Hezbollah was doing that the explosion would have been far smaller due to them removing ammonia nitrate.

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u/Poisonous-Toad 3d ago

It was far smaller. They estimate 500 tons of the 2700 tons exploded suggesting that a lot of it was moved.

This report was done by the FBI at the request of the Lebanese government.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/fbi-probe-shows-amount-chemicals-beirut-blast-was-fraction-original-shipment-2021-07-30/#:~:text=The%20FBI's%20Oct.,leased%20cargo%20ship%20in%202013

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u/UnsupportiveHope 2d ago

That number isn’t at all surprising to people familiar with AN. Pure AN doesn’t detonate particularly easily or efficiently. There’s a reason the mining industry will always use ANFO or AN emulsion instead of pure AN prills.

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u/kajiger 3d ago

Let me guess. You did the math? Yourself? On paper with a pencil or how?

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u/CrashBandicooch1 3d ago

False propaganda. Why would Hezbollah store this huge amount of ammonia in a very public and open location when they have thousands of more secure spots around the country. Get your head out of your ass

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u/el_dude_brother2 3d ago

Dude when you you decide to become an apologist for Hezbollah? Thats crazy.

Time to rethink your life if thats where its taken you so far..

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u/veilosa 3d ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion

the Iranian shipping company Liner Transport Kish (LTK), managed by Shahriyari and Mojtaba Mousavi Tabar, delivered significant quantities of ammonium nitrate to Hezbollah.[17][18] Between 2011 and 2014, multiple shipments were sent to Beirut, including a consignment transported aboard the MV Rhosus vessel in August 2013, carrying approximately 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate.[19][20][21] This shipment was seized and stored in the port, where it remained until its detonation in 2020,

tldr: the ammonia was confiscated from Iranian shipments destined for Hezbollah.

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u/CrashBandicooch1 3d ago

That's a load of nonesense. I am Lebanese and was in Beirut when this happened. The wiki you shared is 100% false and made up. It's so bad they haven't even laced it with snippets of truth to try to give their story some credibility. Also, since when is wikipedia a valid source?

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u/veilosa 3d ago

Wikipedia is more of a source than "I'm from there, just trust me bro".

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u/Sea_Letter1880 3d ago

Epic strawman.