no 1st of. which your thirst for action. here tuned into our international just after half past 9 here in moscow my name's union o'neill. breaking news a devastating explosion has hit lebanon's capital beirut leaving home brit's injured many did the interior minister says the cause is so far all nuclear know the blast we know went off in the city's port area destroying buildings within a large radius it's believed to have set off fuel tanks causing secondary blast

a huge fire. wall. for. yet quite extraordinary pictures there let's cross live to our middle east correspondent paula sleazier who's in tel 'd aviv paula you've been following developments for the past number of hours now bringing us all up to date on all of these tragic developments in lebanon what is known at this stage what happened and indeed why it happened. well we have a confirmation of 10 people who have been killed and according to the red cross hundreds injured but we do expect those figures to climb in the coming hours as we were hearing reports of people inside the rubble and emergency services desperately trying to reach them the hospitals have started turning people away because they simply cannot cope with the number of injured who have been brought to them now the 1st blast happened just over 3 and a half hours ago it was

a massive blast people talk about a mushroom cloud over the city there was broken glass everywhere a building shaking eyewitnesses say complete devastation the area's been a disaster area and the scale of the damage has been said to be enormous earlier we heard from the health minister and he said that the number of people injured is very high with extensive damage now no confirmation at this stage as to what caused that initial blast but we are hearing that it was possibly an electrical spock the live in. customs director saying it was caused by nitrates a warehouse where highly explosive materials are now the conflict in reports as to whether or not there was a 2nd blast and indeed where that blast happened but it is possible that the initial explosions may have stepped off the fuel tanks which could have caused a huge secondary blast as i say no confirmation yet as to the cause of these

explosions and investigation is under way a national day of mourning has been called for tomorrow now the president has been briefed on the situation he's warned against making speculation but of course there's a lot of speculation as to what's been going on behind the scenes very. early speculation just after this occurred paula. possibly israel possibly hezbollah were involved but both israel has been given statements. can you tell us what's being said as regards those parties. what we have heard from israeli officials who were speaking anonymously saying that in no way was israel involved in this in the last few days there has been a flare up of tensions along the israel lebanon border and particularly between israel and hezbollah so naturally there was some speculation that this might have been caused by his beloved sorry that it might be caused by israel and the israeli

airstrike that it was quite short in terms of time that after the explosion happened that we heard israel denying this there was also other speculation as you correctly mentioned that his beloved might have been behind it this is a country that is particularly politically torch we had the foreign minister of assignment just a day ago we have a lot of corruption charges being leveled at various politicians so we have been on that's minded in an economic crisis and added to that is of course the whole coronavirus pandemic on the back of all of that was speculation that maybe his was behind this. but we have heard from his that he no way with they involved at this stage i must say it seems as if it was some kind of technical mishap but this is certainly the largest blast blasts that lebanon has seen in recent history paula thank you very much for bringing us right up to date on what may have occurred there in beirut in the port area paula sleeper and tell him. well

i'm happy to say about kharaj a lawyer specializing in the middle east joins us live on the program as well good to see you again. first of all you're initial thoughts on this at least 10 people dead we hear on quite extraordinary pictures coming out of the lebanese capital. yes thank you very much for having me again we still don't know what happened we know that 10 people have died more than 100 people have been injured. because of the explosion we might have some few clues of who did that but there's an explosion there have there had been some explosion before in iran and in lebanon so we still don't know what's going to happen or who did that but it might be some kind of hezbollah attack. by the israeli we still don't know what's going to what's that but it's one of them

i think both israel and hezbollah as our correspondents going through they have denied involvement but suspicions are are going to fall when you see the explosion and the blasts on the fire it's so big and so huge and it's affected so many people that there's going to be a lot of speculation out there particularly in the hours immediately after something like this. yes there's going to be a lot of the speculation because as you might not that the economy of lebanon is on the eve of collapse. unemployment is raising the money is losing the currency is losing all its value the country has a lot of economic problem so it's it might be a bit. of rafiq hariri trial who's going to be in few days they're going to they're going to give their verdict so i might murder trial of the legal even if that's the

murder trial of the former prime minister rafiq hariri just after tell us a little bit about rafik hariri and then he. yes so how are africa area was the prime minister of lebanon he was a sunni muslim he den was replaced after his that he well he was replaced by his son. so in lebanon polity you have the president has to be a create a christian maronite the prime minister has to be a muslim sunni the president of the speaker of the house of the parliament has to be a muslim pure so there is a big divide inside within in lebanon with lebanon polity thought people feel it's hezbollah who committed this crime who killed their africare we saw on the verge of this very day so people might think it might be the hezbollah and other people might think it might be. in that take by israel because israel a few days ago or

a few weeks ago had done the same if we had fewer explosion in iran saw people still don't know but it's it's kind of messy the whole lebanon is kind of messy with rafik hariri with the economy crisis and the with the unemployment going skywriting the lebanese prime minister has the. a day of mourning for the explosion in the in the port of beirut is the situation there from what you've seen over the last number of doesn't look as if it's going to get even more tragic as rescue teams continue their work because there really is of the blast the aftermath looks quite extraordinary going on for kilometer after kilometer. i think it's going to be it's going to be very bad because usually when you have you have a terrorist attack there's always a day or 2 days of mourning and this is this is going this is going to be big because a few days ago as i told you before you had

a few soldiers from hezbollah who try to sneak in israel and they were not arrested but they were captured they were seen by these really they had the time to. come back in in lebanon and get back to the his well hezbollah territory so the situation in lebanon is very very very bad and it might get worse and worse as i told him because the economy the economy is on the eve of collapse people are on the streets every day and every night they feel that control of the lebanon some people think that it's the european countries that control lebanon and they leap and these people are sure that libyan has no power of it over its own territory. crush just one point on that because we've we've seen or we've heard earlier allegations from israel but the port is a very significant area for hezbollah in previous attacks and they said not

very long ago the foreign ministry in israel that it was somebody that needs to be maintained by lebannon you know the shock waves of what's going on here there's going to be a lot of talk about whether or not this was a possible target whether or not an attack happened at all but whether it was going to be in the future. it's it's the part of lebanon that israel think that the what their weapons who who gets to live in and a comes from the port of lebanon whether it's for the libyan army are more more or saw for the hezbollah for the hezbollah militia so israel is almost sure that all the weapons that are getting into lebanon are going through that port and going within the territory to the hezbollah in order for hezbollah israel or to defend itself from these very sore for israel this is

a very important place and they want to be sure that they live in and that the lebanese government is controlling that port and not their. thank you very much for giving us some insight there as you say as well we have to be kerflop by speculation up this stage but thanks very much for giving us some some bach growing into into. a new year history. a lawyer specializing in the middle east so we are speaking this blast this huge explosion in the lebanese capital which we know at this stage just killed at least 10 people it is expected to be much worse than the pictures as you can see here quite extraordinary and we're gathering a lot of local people in the area to get their thoughts some one of them can join us on the program it is journalist al tough talk in roots

can you describe to us what you heard what you saw and what the situation is right now welcome to the program. up until now ambulances are rushing to the scene you have fire trucks also rushing to the scene to try and extinguish what is remaining of the fire the lebanese army says the percent of the fire hospital put off though as i said still fire trucks and ambulances all rushing to the scene a lot of bodies a lot of. people are being extracted from the venue or from the scene of the explosion at these 3 major hospitals in the lebanese capital beirut have announced that they come no longer accept any person now who were wounded obviously fired the explosion which ripped through the lebanese capital as a day out there on 6 pm local time around 6 pm local time we heard a massive explosion and the lebanese capital namely in the ports the 1st and the

preliminary reports claimed fireworks that. there was some sort of accident or an electric. of some sort that caused the accident that the fireworks. lit on fire however later on the director of lebanon's general security lieutenant general. that there had actually been a large quantities of sodium nitrate which had been confiscated from a ship recently that had been stored that's one of the apparently according to what mr ibrahim is saying. the fire from the fireworks to the nitrates. which was confiscated obviously from the ship but now this explosion is by far the worst explosion that lebanon has witnessed since the assassination of former lebanese prime minister how do you back in 2004 and it comes at a very critical time for the country at this ports where the explosion had taken

place was only open 5 days ago after a lengthy with 19 locked down lebanon. it's also struggling is it is very much on the brink of economic collapse it's in talks with the i.m.f. with the international monetary fund asking for economic assistance in a very critical time and now with this port with that with what has happened today out this court this is one of the main gateways which lebanon uses to bring in food to the country so this is also another major crisis looming over the country or there has been added to the series of crises right after 1000 and economic situation in lebanon. you said at the start of 'd your your report thorough stuff the hospitals are asking for they're essentially full they're centrally overwhelmed they're not letting more people in we initially heard there are 10 deaths people poles from the rubble near the area does it look to you from what

you've seen from what you've heard that it could get much worse than that in terms of fatalities unfortunately unfortunately yes especially from the us i think that the poor had a lot of stuff on the inside at the time of the explosions rubble is mounting in that area so we don't know what's under the rubble but i think we should expect that the number of fatalities is going to rise also we have to point out that the radius of the explosion or the blast was felt up to 10 kilometers away and it was even sensed or heard that in neighboring cypress so you can imagine just how massive it was i don't think the number of wounded is also going to wise because some people were wounded the by the last shattering into their apartments they were in their own homes and we were wounded as well as the people who were in the vicinity of the explosion but i think the number of fatalities is going to rise mainly because there were a lot of. time of the explosion in the port i think unfortunately we should expect

that the number of fatalities is going to rise just before you go one of the things as we're looking at the video well tough. is that we seem to see a number of blocks there were reports of at least one follow up explosion after a fuel tanks caught fire is there more to know about just to be clear and what happened here. well these are the words of looked at in general are busted by him who is the director of love in all security general security this is the only official who has outright spoken about the fact that there was some sort of accident firebird people it's trying to another depot where sodium nitrate had been confiscated and stored and i don't know i think these explosions have a kind of domino you know. this is the wires them trying to. mend and to even that be one of the headquarters of lovenox power company which was also

destroyed and brought down by the by the you know by how the explosion was. by how big the explosion was yeah what was already a terrible situation economic. you know mixed with covert 19 and then this happens it's just a dreadful day isn't it for beirut listen thank you very much for coming on the program and sharing what you know at this stage. journalist in bay ridge thank you. well let's get a recount of what's going on in our breaking news so far you're watching our team international it is $947.00 here in moscow the same time in beirut where a powerful explosion has shaken the lebanese capital leaving many killed or injured we've just heard the lebanese army has taken control of all

districts near the port area that was where the blast happened the interior minister has said that the calls of the explosion is. so far all know in the were early reports of possible fireworks large amounts of been in the area just echoed from one to another leading to a number of. confirmed both israel and the lebanese group hezbollah have denied any involvement there had been a lot of initial allegations that perhaps either or both were involved in you're seeing here just absolutely devastating scenes the port area in. beirut now the explosion was reportedly followed by a 2nd front when a fuel caught fire causing. the blaze destroying buildings over a wide area stringer the local journalist we were just speaking to some 10 kilometers away that's actually

a run where the. me in the airport the international airport is in the sights of the city there was broken broken doors as far away. the shock waves indeed could be felt far away we're talking a lot of kilometers maybe 150 kilometers in cypress neighboring country videos posted online as you're seeing here we're putting as many of them as we're getting together just to give you a picture from locals in the area and also from the sea these are from you can see when many hundreds of meters that plume of smoke after the initial blast off in to the covering central cars were overturned streets blocked by rubble that is the issue at the moment we're having a lot of difficulty trying to get about how many people many casualties there are and many fatalities 10 up this stage they were pulled from the rubble but it could be much much worse hospitals by the way reportedly full of people injured in the

blast the exact numbers are not known on this all comes out a time of deep political unrest in lebanon constant street rallies. over the past few weeks against the government's handling of the worst economic slump since the civil war which ended 3 decades ago and there's also been a recent escalation on the border with israel which has accused hezbollah fighters of trying to infiltrate is really top of all the there is the upcoming verdict in the trial over the assassination of former prime minister rafik hariri who was killed in a car bombing in 2005 a u.n. tribunal is to to issue that for addicts all on friday. or freelance journalist or on holiday is in the roots described to us what he's saying. in the poem gloucester's your stock in trade to a great downtown bakery thoughts large parts of the everything he does in the world

so i made it up the road it's taken a significant amount of people been injured. down suited me she happened to like the buildings the infrastructure in the horary the devastated. shops around you been completely destroyed you see behind me you know i'll tell you that in terms of the importance of letting the speccy riot the infrastructure of the health care system to be dissipated very much strength from the only during and after demi and demi to this country the area that i mentioned taking a lot of the images. of the right so it's been easy z.z.z. very very nicely and cosseted the whole very very very limited. a lot of reports coming in as to what occurred how many are injured we have just heard from the head of the lebanese red cross saying that at least 2200 people are injured in the explosion. is just coming up to 4 hours after it occurred

well let's now across live on the program to something you know all the some gulf states a little to get a sense of his take on what occurred here. alison quite extraordinary footage video coming out of those blasts explosion so far there's little chlorate see in fact there is no official verdict as to what caused this blast we know that both hezbollah and israel have denied involvement there had been early speculation enough they were involved how does it look to you at this stage. well thank you for having me. i don't want to speculate because the potential sources of the explosion are numerous. and i still would not discount an israeli attack given the recent tensions on the southern border of lebanon and claim that fighters want to get in

also. prime minister benjamin netanyahu. legal problems and. the convenience that a war in lebanon would provide as a distraction. then there is the trial of. coming to a conclusion with the verdict on friday as you mentioned. so the hezbollah israel connection is their family there and then there is the overall situation in lebanon which has completely collapsed since march when the country was unable defaulted on a $1200000000.00 euro bond and the lebanese currency has collapsed losing something like 8 times its value to the dollar. imagine people's mortgages are priced in dollars but they earn

in lebanese leader so that we've got an 8. an 8 fold increase in mortgage prices the level of poverty and in beirut. lebanon has. exploded people until this explosion the big problem people were talking about in lebanon were suicide personal suicide people on able to survive both locals and even immigrant workers in the country there was a case of a net european worker for example so we have really devastating psychological economic situation compound by. crisis where people really i think at this point could not care less about it because of the problems they're dealing with a personal level so big. the initial the initial aftermath of course is how how do people get treated and we're hearing

a standard that hospitals are reportedly full of people from the plastic sack numbers that aren't known enough stage our local hospitals are they sufficient what you've been taking us through the volatile situations our hospital sufficiently well equipped to deal with such a tragedy. well hospitals are probably not equipped to deal with this additional burden considering already the the the financial stress they're under do you know what's interesting speaking of hospitals one of the recent trends in robberies in beirut has been pharmacies because it's difficult to get access to basic medicine and basic medicinals so the country's under growing really this blast could not have happened in the worst time which is why it's also specious it seems to be i think we were talking about is a archduke ferdinand moment for lebanon for a new civil war which number of forces one to trigger perhaps shifting it from

syria where. by and large it has been brought under control or at least relative control and now we're seeing finally what many were expecting filtration of the war into lebanon there have been rumors of former isis fighters coming in through from. turkey with weapons arriving in tripoli. in tripoli lebanon that is and these fighters are preparing for battle with hezbollah and then therefore those munitions in the area a lot of where just going to break it's going to take a break whether we like it or not but thank you very much for giving us your take on valor sundered political analyst at gulf state on a little indeed we are going to bring it all not breaking you start at least 10

people are dead 2200 official sources say injured the very latest details when we come back in a moment. a short term ago and american air play one more on hiroshima. state not claiming any. supplement up at all costs and. our own diligent. chin it's. like most americans growing up after the war the bombs were a great thing they ended the war they say hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides and that's what my grandfather always said was his reason for the decision. truman was hoping for a dual strategy one was to drop the bombs and hope that japan would surrender and

number 2 the americans were trying to send a message to the soviet union there was american poor planning in october of $145.00 and had chosen 20 targets and russia. lead.

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breaking news all our see a devastating explosion hits the lebanese capital beirut leaving buildings in rubble huge fire that is so far. more than 200 people are injured in the blast according to lebanese red cross in the lebanese health ministry is said in the past few moments at least 30 people are. in the lebanese group hezbollah both deny any involvement in the deadly blast.