[deanhills]

I just checked up again on whether there was more news on the Labanon port explosion, and found this excellent article by the New York Times right down to providing lots of entertainment as well. Wow!  They even tried to replicate the blast and sequence of events electronically and sequence of events from eye witness reports.  Their detailed report of the depth and level of corruption in the port and who the main players are with moving goods is an eye opener, but I'd have thought that this could not be 100% accurate yet.  Surely this is still under investigation?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020...osion.html

I picked up on the following comments in the discussion of the article pointing to Hezbollah being in effect "in charge" of the Port through all of the corrupt wheelings and dealings in Lebanon Port and Government.  Guess only the New York Times would be able to get away with pointing a finger at Hezbollah.  Any one in Lebanon could be assassinated for saying this.

Surely an assessment of culpability for the blast should be based on responsibility for the conditions in which the port operated.  It's been clear for some time, and this article simply confirms it, that Hezbollah and its allies basically control the port.  This makes Hezbollah responsible for the failure to secure or remove the explosives, and thus culpable for the explosion and the resulting loss of life and property damage .  

Of course, anyone in Lebanon who suggests this obvious conclusion risks the same fate as befell former prime minister Hariri, whose death by a Hezbollah explosion was also recently confirmed by an international tribunal.

@Grouch Actually, no. More and more people of all confessions are speaking out against Hezbollah. On the other hand, do you think the newspaper of record will mention that one plausible hypothesis for the spark of the blast is an Israeli drone strike? Moreover, what everybody is celebrating as great reporting is often just culled from Arabic sources.

Excellent article! But I would like to add one more flabbergasting information: the Lebanese government has ISSUED TWO PERMITS TO IMPORT EXPLOSIVES, the first in October 2014, the second in October 2017, for the benefit of the Lebanese explosives Company.  These permits were issued by the Council of Ministers in plenary session,  so all the ministers were present! And these permits were only issued after the  Lebanese Army had inspected the 15 warehouses of the said company to make sure they were empty and safe!!! BTW, the Lebanese Explosives company had requested a permit to import 200 tons of AN monthly in May 2014, so in 14 months the quantity stored in hangar 12 would have been completely removed! Say around February 2016....The Nobel prize of inefficiency should be awarded to  our politicians!ALL OF THEM WITHOUT EXCEPTION!