2020 Beirut explosion
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2020 Beirut explosion, deadly blast that took place on August 4, in Beirut, and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. The explosion was caused by the improper storage of ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse. The explosion killed 218 people, injured about 7,000, displaced some 300,000, and sparked political unrest in Beirut.
The origin of the explosion dates to 2013, when the merchant vessel MV Rhosus, after facing technical issues, docked in Beirut on November 13, on its way from Batumi, Georgia, to Beira, Mozambique. When the ship failed to pay port fees, its cargo—including 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate—was impounded by the Lebanese government and moved to a port warehouse. The cargo remained in the warehouse despite multiple safety warnings from Lebanese customs to high-ranking officials: ammonium nitrate, a compound used in fertilizers, is explosive and can undergo decomposition when heated in a confined space. On the day of the explosion, a fire broke out in the port area near the warehouse where the ammonium nitrate was stored, and, just as customs officials had often warned, the ammonium nitrate detonated.
Lebanese journalist Dalal Mawad described in The Guardian what she saw in east Beirut:
“The damage was like nothing I had ever seen.…Buildings were battered, and naked concrete columns were all that was left of the luxurious skyscrapers overlooking the port. Cars along the road looked as if they had been hit by a giant hammer, and streets were blocked by rubble and wreckage. People were already cleaning up the streets, salvaging what they could, looking for survivors. I did not see any police or army officers helping them.”
In 2020 Lebanon was struggling with myriad concerns: the COVID-19 pandemic, the national currency quickly losing value, a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the Central Bank that resulted in massive financial losses, and the aftermath of protests in 2019 against inflation and political corruption. The explosion’s devastating effects magnified those issues. On August 5 Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared a state of emergency; by the next week, Diab and his entire cabinet had resigned their positions amid intense criticism.
Though Diab had launched a government investigation into the blast before his resignation, judicial attempts to hold the prime minister and other ministers accountable were repeatedly blocked, with suspects claiming they were unfairly persecuted. Though international officials, including French President Emmanuel Macron, pressured Lebanon to quickly reform the government, the country struggled to establish a new ruling body with any permanency. By July 2021 two prime minister-designates had resigned after failing to appoint a council. Internal investigative efforts were indefinitely suspended.
Mawad shared the fears of Lebanese residents who felt that the “explosion was the result of the criminal and corrupt manoeuvering of the ruling political establishment…a microcosm of the corruption in Lebanon as a whole.” Protests were organized by those who had lost homes, employment, and loved ones.
Despite Lebanese inaction, international human rights groups presented evidence of government misconduct. In 2023 the United Nations Human Rights Council released a statement “urg[ing] the international community to…[establish] an international fact-finding mission into the explosion” in the absence of a satisfactory investigation from the Lebanese government. “The Lebanese authorities have had three years to investigate what caused the devastating explosion in Beirut’s port and to hold those suspected of criminal responsibility to account,” said Amnesty International deputy director Aya Majzoub in August. “Yet to this day, absolutely no one has been held responsible for the tragedy that unfolded on 4 August 2020.” In 2024 Pope Francis met with families of victims in a private audience at the Vatican, telling them that, “The Lebanese people, and you above all, have a right to words and actions that manifest responsibility and transparency.”