Former CIA Agent: "Lebanon Disaster Caused by Ammunition Explosion"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] A former CIA agent pointed to military explosives, not ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer raw material, as the direct cause of the Beirut explosion disaster.

Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who was active in Lebanon for several years, said in an interview with CNN on the 5th (local time), "It is definitely military explosives," and added, "I am sure it is not simply fertilizer like ammonium nitrate."

Baer claimed that the white powder seen at the beginning of the explosion video is ammonium nitrate burning, and the larger explosion that followed was caused by military explosives detonating. He explained, "You can see an orange fireball (in the explosion video), which is definitely caused by military explosives."

The Lebanese government considers the explosion at the Beirut port warehouse, where 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored for a long time, as the cause of the disaster. Ammonium nitrate, an agricultural fertilizer, has the property of easily exploding when in contact with combustible materials, and is also used as a basic raw material for manufacturing gunpowder and other weapons.

Baer estimated that military explosives and propellants were present at the Beirut port. While there may have been a weapons cache, it is unclear which organization it belonged to, and there is no evidence that this disaster was caused by someone's attack.

He said, "The problem is whether military explosives existed, whose they were, and why they were stored there," adding, "I am not confident that the truth will be known." He continued, "No one would want to admit that military explosives were stored at the port."

The disaster, which occurred around 6 p.m. the previous day, claimed more than 100 lives and injured over 4,000 people. Search and rescue operations are underway in Beirut, and the Lebanese government has declared a two-week state of emergency in Beirut.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.