eddies and of rich gulf states who previously put money into lebanon but in the last few months particularly with the economic crisis caused by culprit in the downturn in all prices on able and willing to support lebanon so much because they say that the governing alliance between hezbollah the shiite group and the christians would interest in doing something they don't like so the road to economic has been pulled monthly platinum american sanctions on lebanon's banks that deal with syria as well as of course caused a crisis with a country that is so dependent on imported things of crude steps to always critical economic tensions and then to say you have final culmination of this long weary process of trying to find out who killed prime minister rafik hariri the extra minister in 2005 that's supposed to happen on friday and that's why this explosion is going to be seen sadly with the true or false why so many people is in some sense a repetition all that calamitous explosion back in 2008 because this is somebody trying to send a message to the court now i suspect it could well be just

a terrible accident but as i say the problem in beirut is going to be able to people will find it difficult to believe that such terrible explosion could just be an accident and they're going to be looking for who to blame and depending on your affiliation or will take share it was them sunni muslims christians on he will point the finger of blame natural enemies and that sadly is going to sound plausible to what the people even if it's not true and what are the dangers then all of this finger pointing at the moment swed that is absolutely no concrete evidence because at the moment there's talk of a far webspace. container bring up but their heads obviously speculation is far more to it than that how damaging could some of those. blame game when you see partly because you have this really terrible economic state of affairs where huge numbers of people lebanon well almost on the edge all. kinds of economic collapse and the. simple calamity to that main port of entry is going to make economic

situation the food supply situation was huge grain silos being very badly damaged at a visible and actress knee next to the explosions his will take place so you could then see the tie and all the violence that eruption desperation people with guns and there are a lot of guns and other weapons around and may say we've got to grab what we can get to see our people survive and so you could have a very naked sort of hobson's survival of the fittest take place which will really make previous lebanese civil wars seem rather rational calculated because they could be said to be between political groups but now we could well see a kind of battle for survival such as the terrible economic crisis how we see neighboring countries react to what's going on that. well there is always a positive shot that could come about that is to say the neighbors crewed act to provide relief medical relief for the injured humanitarian relief for those in need

and even economically because we have the problem that everybody who has an interest in lebanon is also short of money at the moment and that's partly what has happened to make political situation so unstable previous sponsors and patrons of different groups in lebanon kind of want to keep them very well that iran has with the saudis with the sunni muslims on it as a whether it would be a willingness on the ability to reach into which want a state as they used to be to help out in a situation i think must be doubted the europeans or americans to after all have all sorts of issues on my mind and so this could be one of those sensational events which when the dust clears everybody washes their hands were it in the outside world which would be a tragic consequence but it's one trait not to be ruled out talking of a tragic consequence what about the everyday life of people who are not caught up in politics and factions or what what lies in wait for then. this is this is

a terrible situation because as a the damage to the port damage to things like the grain silos not the storage facilities will mean that there's likely to be a sigh conclude prices which were already soaring because of high inflation and the fall in the value of the lebanese currency against the dollar and the euro and so i think everyday life is already grim for many people in lebanon and it's likely to get worse as a result is even if it is simply a terrible accident the shock waves through the economy through the supply system are going to really cause serious problems for older people who already dealing with the question civil war in syria the huge number of refugees who calls and particularly dire economic situation. to just finally mark any reaction from obviously the u.k. the u.s. . not a reaction. from the from the region itself but beyond that at the world reaction well at that moment of course as well as we can see governments all can try out what has actually happened and then what will they do as i say the tragedy is the

british the americans and the or korean countries all themselves consumed by their own internal health and economic crisis and whether they will. be able or willing to respond to this quickly in order to dampen the tensions and arise in lebanese society who waters happened in its economic and social consequence and i fear that we could be slow to react to. really very interesting to talk to you on this thank you so much for joining us live here on our to thank you for. joining me. paula can you bring us up to date with any further information any update on what you had for us earlier on this. what were it not receiving information that 10 people are confirmed dead but that number is expected to climb and probably climb quite dramatically as we've been

told that hundreds have been injured that hospitals are being forced to turn people away and that emergency teams are desperately trying to get to people who are inside the rubble the president has been briefed about the situation tamara has been declared a national day of mourning in israel and hizbullah have both denied involvement any kind of speculation that there was earlier as to whether this was an israeli strike or his action both of them are denying involvement we are receiving some reports that the 1st explosion might have been caused by an electrical spark we're hearing from the lebanese customs director who says it was caused by nitrates he says it was a warehouse we highly explosives materials are housed and that the initial explosions might have set off fuel and that might have caused that huge secondary blast but we still haven't had confirmation as to what caused either the 1st or 2nd blast there

is an investigation that's underway as i say at least 10 people who have been killed a massive mushroom cloud over the port hundreds of people who have been injured a big fire is roads closed a lot of panic a lot of speculation and a deep sense of dread that is occurring in beirut tonight. just briefly paula. bit of context about what's happening there in the country at the moment politically calls. well just yesterday we saw the foreign minister resign the country is going through a difficult time politically there are a lot of corruption charges that are being leveled at various politicians we have a situation where it's significant that hizbollah is denying involvement because there is a lot of tension between hezbollah and other political factions lebanon is traditionally a country that suffers from sick tyrian strife you just need to think back to the

19 seventies and the the civil war that happened then so you have a lot of political confusion and a lot of political stalemates that are occurring at this point in time and that is coupled with an economic crisis and again of course what everyone is facing the crisis of the the covered 19 pandemic and allegations of mishandling and high numbers so this explosion all these explosions come at a terrible time and they really are just accentuating a situation that is quite complicated and quite difficult to begin with. paula thank you very much indeed for that update from tel aviv that was middle east correspondent paula. i'm joined by barry barry barry actually. barry thanks very much indeed for joining us you are a journalist a specialist journalist in the region so what you make of what's happened what's your immediate impression. one of the immediate them for action was that it could

be actually accepted as fact by a way or another because you know the situation they live in is very tense now between hezbollah and israel so there were a lot of growing in the sky of lebanon so what happened we don't know i'm still now whether it is accidental as the government said all it is that man made a pact or blocks with his very definitely have flipped a switch cause this bluff why why the blaze took place for example why it happened and that i'll have a question for this for the time being i believe the government actually trying to make people actually safer and trying to quiet conducive to ancient lebanon. number actually dead at around 10 am film out with the leads and hundreds of people went and did it is a very very congested time in beirut now people walking by the place actually and

you know seaport by sea it is this is the best time now to throw a rock around and also that on the cusp phase and the distance and the area so that's why maybe the number of people who were actually injured or killed is better hi i'm still not it's dangerous isn't to speculate at the moment as to what causes but of course the political situation that does make one wonder what could have happened there can you give us your view on the political tensions that you know there are not allowed lebanon is divided between 2 camps actually has a law in belarus and one time i'm told will the opposition which is go to c.n.n. and sunday muslims on the other side so when we are waiting actually for the west actually the fire to take place has played nice this kind of tension that. we had so maybe that would also there were some sort of last tack between the

israeli. canvasses between israeli and hezbollah one of hezbollah soldier was killed and shooting them bombings range bombing again south end of the month because hezbollah threatened that they will take intervention so in such atmosphere actually tension is very very high on their own on live and in particular so we don't know actually what happened that's why people who instead where prices they could be as good as that crack it's could be a deliberate action a explosion but the government action is and i and to calm the people and lebanon they don't want to say what is happening with them there when actually explosives that warehouse and the city or the port why they're supposed of all that why why what's happened let's pose the plays actually which is the night that last and empathy for many many actually windows that went sheff out of them and that we have people i talked to many people my correspondent also there and he told me that that

and that is that is the same fear and lebanon now where people are really worried what about the state of fear in the region if it does turn out to be deliberate you talk about the tensions what could be the impact on the region as a whole if it turns out to be what people really hope is going to be. if he does every just in time in the last dispute because sometimes actually a change all you know might made the explosion somebody would like to check out that some sort of instability and lebanon it could actually ignite that civil war we know we live in or just and there in the middle of the savages. goes through a very bloody civil war and thousands of people were killed so we are witnessing the things that the way you can now buy things in between that idle. time or 2 arrival times and actually which is a skill a thing now we don't know whether also if the have the any role here that is going to be said nearly nothing to do with us we are not. this explosion we.

don't suspect it will be behind it so we don't know yet i believe it is very very few information but definitely that is something suspicious why the police took place why actually there please ignite. what was 1000 government action why didn't they have a huge number of casualties happen so people people are really as i said this a lot of speculation a lot of rumors actually spreading in beirut now according to the people i contacted just you know and i want to go so we don't know yet that even in the whole of the middle east now and that's the state of tennessee now there is a lot of tension between the israeli and syria from one side and has a lot also in the things that you say we don't know short you say people are scared but of course lebanon has been through crises like this before. oh yes then that means the port is essentially you know they know the situation is very close that

they know that the tension is very high and they know that they are and we're waiting for the pentagon actually to accept those who pollute. tension. own pompousness fishnet his allies in syria they are tying to actually stay away from any lessons of their gravy they invaded iraq to have them or you know have been bombing lebanon for the last 30 years or so and that only hezbollah in the so-called soldiers or confront them who are liberal in syria trying to stay away from any diety confrontation with israel but we said no intervention from other countries you say they want to stay away from it but what about some sort of global intervention assad oh yes definitely you know that an american on one thing a huge a pressure on not invented by these government on but i believe is actually the end to this hezbollah to actually ignite some sort of up a civil war with hezbollah as

a large should be completely from the haiti we're going to raise you know that they have out of about a 150000 the size and that actually. and there were houses everywhere and south of lebanon so that american where and what pressure on the lebanese government saying look you know there should be $1.00 and $1.00 army which is you know that the bennies of patient one we don't want as moloch's to have any kind of heavy weapons or resign and their side we have to actually because they want to limit him down when the state decided a there it is a huge confusion it is that used a nike and the company's stamping. lead lost more than 80 percent of value on the last. few weeks so that country. it is in debts that a negotiation with them one of 3 farm collapse completely i don't buy

a government like so that a guy like who ate the stuff actually sending them on finance and let help so it seems it just seems that lebanon is waiting for the bigger. just briefly then. it seems that the line is that this was an accident but what happens now what's going on told now just briefly want to be honest if it is you know accidental or which is which many people doubt actually if it does not matter if it was that mad meat man made the explosion actually or a blow out it could ignite some sort of huge reaction without from hezbollah if they don't really behind it maybe maybe as well laurie get on with the act if you give the accident as it said it could actually be you know people will suffer they will try to like that people there in order to avoid any escalation whether from and. whether to avoid infighting among village many factions also of fighting with

the israelis so lebanon and a very badly very bad state economically politically military wise so i hope this this this phase will pass i could not be just now speak you know that the higher council of defense is having your majesty meet the school and order to look at a situation i don't believe backgrounds of that council defense will have been met in c.p.p. unless it is something serious found this body of one thank you very much for contributing live here in r.t. for more on this developing story and are joined by middle east expert on the walk of. lebanon has already suffered so much with the crowd of virus and of course political tensions this tragedy will damage the country massively no matter what is behind this massive explosion. has indeed i mean the 1st at 1st sight you see the the wheat storage and the port of beirut being pretty much

devastated and you know this is where i live i think it's a tweet from it all important or not to a large extent so we have to. i understand what the extent of the damage is obviously and whether anything apart from each of you see quite a few things are devastated to a very large white circle around the port itself. so yes this is a huge blow to to lebanon to the lebanese economy that's the last thing they really needed that this might not be so we don't know enough yet but what do you think could have happened could this have been an attack of some sort. we've seen suspicious attacks elsewhere in the region notably in iran with the not tom's. nuclear power station or research facility. and other places like a poor in iran also on the gulf a quite a few of them you could argue that this was manmade and if manmade then they

probably knew no suspicion that these are edis are behind it this is why is there as you know evidence all it is is speculation of course social media go wild with all sorts of theories yeah very much so we have to be careful the news we have from the ground is that this has been a container of the source of the explosion is a container of ammonium nitrate. which is used pretty much in everyday life say for example in in order to extract rock to build or whatever they are is all sorts of industries that use that apparently this particular this specific container we seized due to a judicial order a few years ago so this is not new and the officials so far we are yet to have a coherent statement in official statement but the official so far being

interviewed are saying that this would be the source of the explosion and then that there this particular container was put in. in a bigger warehouse that contains all sorts of chemical materials which probably explains the other or the 2nd big explosion but as you said the social media and even analysts are rife with speculation that this could be israelis now the israelis as far as we understand have put forward a statement saying an official statement saying that we have got nothing to do with this and it was interesting that they so quickly came out to say that we have got nothing to do with this probably to avoid any and calculated escalation because the border between you know 11 and know the palestine is pretty much tense at the moment we've seen last week an incident where these really bombed lift tired and so

the left right and center for apparently what they thought was an incursion of some sort so we have to make it clear that any they're pretty sure make it clear that any links to israel is pure speculation this stage but what perhaps could we say if it isn't a deliberate act are you concerned it could be made to look like that by opposing factions within lebanon. you know who would know such an explosion could be you know triggered by a very simple bomb and you know what evidence can you really gather from that. but to go back to the lebanese or the there is a problem now in lebanon that those who are pushing behind these really theory or the deliberate intervention theory are those who are interested in getting rid of hezbollah's arms and saying if it is so the suggestion is if it hadn't been for the hizbullah arms we wouldn't have had this strategy those these are the narratives

that we're hearing at the moment from the people who are opposing hezbollah there is also all sorts of accusations against the weak lebanese government they're not able to do so but if it is just an accident then i wouldn't rule out any similar accident everywhere else in the middle east pretty much because the safety standards are is not as high as one would expect or as needed in such areas and the port of beirut pretty much lifeblood of much of lebanon and sometimes syria as well is clogged with material and it's very busy so anything could happen i'm a walker thank you very much for joining us live here on r.t. very good to talk to you well earlier i spoke to our middle east correspondent paula slayer. what we're at now receiving information that 10 people are confirmed dead but that number is expected to climb and probably climb quite dramatically as we've been told that hundreds have been injured that hospitals are being forced to people away and that emergency teams are desperately trying to get to people who

are inside the rubble the president has been briefed about the situation tamara has been declared a national day of mourning in israel and hizbullah have both denied involvement any kind of speculation that there was earlier as to whether this was an israeli strike or his action both of them are denying involvement we are receiving some reports that the 1st explosion might have been caused by an electrical spark we're hearing from the lebanese customs director who says it was caused by nitrates he says it was a warehouse we highly explosives materials are housed and that the initial explosions might have set off fuel tanks and that might have caused that huge secondary blast but we still haven't had confirmation as to what caused either the 1st or 2nd blast there is an investigation that's underway as i say at least 10 people who have been

killed a massive mushroom cloud over the beirut port hundreds of people who have been injured a big fire is roads closed a lot of panic a lot of speculation and a deep sense of grid that is occurring in beirut tonight. joss briefly paul a little bit of context about what's happening there in the country at the moment politically because just yesterday we saw the foreign minister resign the country is going through a difficult time politically there are a lot of corruption charges that are being leveled at various politicians we have a situation where it's significant that hizbullah is denying involvement because there is a lot of tension between hezbollah and other political factions. lebanon is traditionally a country that south is from sectarian strife you just need to think back to the 19 seventies and the civil war that happened then so you have a lot of political come season and

a lot of political stalemate set are occurring at this point in time and that is coupled with an economic crisis and again of course not everyone is facing the crisis of the the covered 19 pandemic and allegations of mishandling and high numbers so this explosion all these explosions come at a terrible time and they really are just 16 to 18 a situation that is quite complicated and quite difficult to begin with and then i spoke to a journalist who witnessed the event the explosion was massive so it's a huge explosion we're not sure until now what caused the explosion and the oh sorry not confirming anything in the investigation is on the way. the beirut seaport so it was a apparently there were there are some boats there where there are some wounded people trying to do that want to people from the boat and from the surrounding area we're not sure at all still how big it is that they're stalled and how many wanted

but for sure we have seen out hour and 15 unfortunately being taken from the fights off explosions and there's a lot of glass because the explosion there was a lot of the trash are from the closure and such i don't know where this pressure come falling but it was just very strong so therefore over a larger radius. was flying everywhere in the city and therefore the number of people who were wounded from the blast so how far away are you then from where the explosion happened and where you also possibly in danger from flying glass and debris. yes i am about to you know me 3rd way in there is that 8 years there was considerable destruction you know to do with the president certainly areas and the commotion of the civilian infrastructure was damaged i could say the damage is

pretty serious and you know i have to remind you also that lebanon is going through a very serious economic crisis and also we have to quote on the virus outbreak so this adds to it and the situation is becoming more and more challenging we all seeing of startling pictures images but we are not hearing anything so when it happened what did you hear even though you were 2 kilometers away yes well there were 2 explosions we heard 2 explosions not we're not sure but that was that a kind of the 1st explosion we can see from the footage that was. aired that there was a 1st fire and a small explosion and that was followed by a large explosion and there are reports that say that there's a is that warehouse in the number 12 warehouse in the airport that contained some fertilizer and some fireworks how this is

a very early to confirm this is the only place that minute reports that were out so we're not sure about that just to recap this developing story for you the massive explosion that rocked the lebanese capital of beirut these a live pictures from that now and reports that 10 people are dead as night as forum across the capital the recovery operation is now underway as you can see the lebanese red cross is reporting hundreds of injured people trapped in their homes well that's it from us at all u.k. the seething all coding small team america will keep you updated from the top of the. seemed wrong. just told. me. to shape

out just. to add to it and engage with it was betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart. just to look for common ground. the world is driven by a dream shaped by thinkers some of those great. thinks . we dare to ask.

live from the world headquarters of our t. america our nation's capital this is the news with rick sanchez and i get everybody i'm rick sanchez and i want to welcome our audience around the world including those of you who are watching us on your phone using the portable t.v. up 1st this take a look at this thank you. stephen sometimes it's an explosion a blast ripped through the capital of love and. help and earlier today this blast was reportedly caused.