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Today: 64 articles and 244 comments as of 6:12.
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Beruit goes BOOM!
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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1 11:27 Alistaire Oppressor of the Welsh6649 [2]
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Page 6: Politix
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Good day
Chicago-Area Leaders Call for
Illinois to Abolish History Classes
Tuesday August 4th, 2020

hotties_300
At least 4 killed in suicide bombing claimed by al-Shabab at popular restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu
Haftar asked Washington for help in controlling Libya's sea and land borders
Israel says it launched air strikes on Syrian army positions
12 pro-regime, 6 rebel fighters die in Syria clashes
Iraqi forces arrest ISIS women infiltrating from Syria
Turkish language and Islam religion in Turkish are taught at schools in Syria, and the TurkishLira is imposed as local currency
Man charged in Philadelphia shooting
that left 7-year-old boy fighting for his life

Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 12:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brunettes get no respect.
Posted by: jpal || 08/04/2020 12:09 Comments || Top||

#2  1st known positive Wu-Flu tests recorded
Posted by: Warthog || 08/04/2020 12:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Still racy. Forbidden fruit is sweetest...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/04/2020 13:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Positive a bad word where flesh is concerned, though.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/04/2020 13:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Clearly not Myrtle Beach.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 14:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe the brunette is named Myrtle?
Posted by: gorb || 08/04/2020 14:52 Comments || Top||

#7  "A crop and a thong?" A scene-stealer
Was dainty Ms. Myrtle (ya feel 'er?),
Now banned from the beach
("This ain't Cannes, sister." "Screech.")
For unleashing her peachy two-reeler.
Posted by: Vinegar Fillmore3021 || 08/04/2020 23:38 Comments || Top||


-War on Police-
Chicago Dunkin' Donuts worker is fired and arrested after Illinois State Trooper finds 'large, thick piece of mucus' floating in his coffee
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] A reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
Dunkin Donuts employee was arrested and faces charges for allegedly spitting into an Illinois state trooper's coffee.

Illinois State Police said Vincent J. Sessler, 25, of Chicago, was arrested and charged Friday with disorderly conduct, reckless conduct, and battery to a peace officer following the incident which occurred the previous night.
Per Second City Cop, he could've been hit with a felony, but Kim Foxx refused. Typical
Police said that the unnamed Illinois State Trooper had gone to the Dunkin' Donuts Thursday at about 10.20pm to buy a large cup of black coffee, according to CBS 2 Chicago.

Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Food Tampering, An Extra Ounce of Caution
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Adding a foreign biological substance to a food product to contaminate it and make it unsafe to consume product, falls State and Federal Bio-Terrorism statues.

The idiot is looking at 10 to 20 years unless the Mayor gets involved. Then she'll give the terrorist the key to the city.
Posted by: NN2N || 08/04/2020 8:44 Comments || Top||

#3  What ever happened to good coffee in a shift-sized thermos? And that's not a "blame the cop / victim" question as I pose it here.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/04/2020 11:01 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban Violated Eid Ceasefire 38 Times: MoI
[ToloNews] The Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI) says the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
violated the ceasefire 38 times during the three days of the truce, killing at least 20 civilians and wounding 40 others.

The ministry said in a statement on Monday that the Taliban violations included terrorist attacks, offensive attacks and mine explosions that were conducted in 10 provinces.

The Taliban has not commented on the data.

The Interior Ministry’s information indicates that the Taliban conducted 19 blasts, 15 shellings, two ambush attacks on security forces, killing three people and abducting six others.
Idle hands being the Devil’s playthings, it’s probably just as well they were keeping themselves busy.
"This is against the commitments that the Taliban often make to reduce violence," Interior Ministry front man Tariq Arian said.

Despite that, more than 20 provinces have not witnessed security incidents during the three days of Eid (July 31 to August 2).

"We have registered six incidents of violence of ceasefire in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
in three days of Eid," Helmand governor Yasin Khan said.

The Afghan government on Monday stressed the need for a continuation of the ceasefire and said the Taliban is insisting on war and that they do not want ceasefire.

"We have always wanted ceasefire... For years, ceasefire has been a key issue for us in any attempt for peace, but, unfortunately, the Taliban has always insisted on violence," said Presidential front man Sediq Sediqqi said.

A day after the ceasefire on Monday, August 3, a mortar round hit a house in Bala Murghab district, Badghis province, killing three people — two children and a woman--and wounding five others, including four children, according to local officials. No group has grabbed credit for the shelling.

On the first day of Eid, on July 31, a kaboom in the city of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
maimed at least 14 people.

Taliban denied they violated the ceasefire and said they prevented the supply of aid to surrounded government forces and the establishment of new checkpoints.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Jalalabad Prison Secured After 18 Hours, 8 Attackers Killed
Yesterday’s attack finally repulsed. Well done, guys!
[ToloNews] Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
local security officials on Monday said the attack on a prison and an adjacent shopping plaza in PD4 of Jalalabad city ended on Monday after nearly 20 hours with the death of 10 attackers.

At least 29 people were killed and 50 were maimed during the fighting, officials said.

Emal Niazi, Nangarhar's police chief, said that both the prison and the shopping plaza close to the prison were cleared of attackers and the area is under security forces control.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement 10 attackers were killed, five prisoners were killed by the attackers and six others maimed. Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking...
40 families in a nearby building were rescued, 1,025 prisoners were also rescued, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, two security force members were also killed in the attack.

The attack began when a jacket wallah detonated a vehicle full of explosives at the entrance gate of the prison in PD4 of Jalalabad city at 6:44 pm on Sunday.

Following the blast, the attackers began fighting security forces in the prison and the nearby shopping area.

Hours before the attacks ended, the Afghan chief of army staff, General Yasin Zia, arrived in the province to lead the operation in both areas himself.

Fawad Aman, deputy front man for the Defense Ministry, confirmed that the attack had ended.

Nangarhar governor’s front man Attaullah Khogyani also announced the attack on Nangarhar prison had ended, with "at least 29 people killed and 50 maimed."

There are unconfirmed reports that ISIS has grabbed credit.

The Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
denies involvement in the attack.

The attack began on the last day of the Eid ceasefire between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Posted by: trailing wife || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
At least 4 killed in suicide bombing claimed by al-Shabab at popular restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico nabs ‘El Marro,’ fuel theft king blamed for surge in drug violence
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Known as “El Marro” (The Mallet), Yepez was arrested in the early hours of Sunday by soldiers and state officials during a raid on a house in Guanajuato, a central state that has become the main flashpoint of record gang violence, authorities said.

“This is a tremendously successful blow for the government,” said Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Boss of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, a Guanajuato-based outfit, Yepez has been engaged in a bloody struggle for supremacy in the state with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent gangs.

Yepez, 40, is the highest profile narco arrested so far under Lopez Obrador, who pledged to bring down record levels of violence plaguing Mexico when he took office in December 2018.

Instead, homicides have further increased, and last October, the Lopez Obrador administration suffered serious embarrassment when it botched the detention of Ovidio Guzman, a son of incarcerated kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Guanajuato’s government said security forces captured Yepez and five other suspected gang members in a village called Franco Tavera in the Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas municipality, a few miles north of where the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel was born.

During the swoop on two buildings, soldiers freed a local businesswoman who had been kidnapped and seized a cache of weapons, including a grenade launcher, the Defense Ministry said.

Three people were found in the second property, including a sixth suspected gangster.
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  Taking bets in Vegas when he'll be sprung? Portland may have catch and release, but the true believers don't get paid as well as government employees do much further south on 'contract'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/04/2020 16:39 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Portland catch and release program
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM


Aidan Courtright, 27, was arrested & charged in Massachusetts for the alleged assault & battery of an 82-year-old man
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM

#1  Kurt Franz of Treblinka? (too much?)
Posted by: Pherong Thrinter1552 || 08/04/2020 3:54 Comments || Top||

#2  that's the look of a soy boy who knows there are scum in the gubmint who have his back.
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 || 08/04/2020 8:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Assault on an elderly person in most states has enhanced punishment
Posted by: Frank G || 08/04/2020 8:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I would call it even if a couple of people just kicked the living egesta out of this scummy coward.
Posted by: Clem || 08/04/2020 8:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Good. Now hang him.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/04/2020 9:22 Comments || Top||

#6  He didn't get to pick his last name, but Faigden goes well with his surname...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/04/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||


Seattle Police Chief Slams City Council After Activists Target Her Home
[DAILYWIRE] Seattle’s Chief of Police called on Seattle’s City Council to stand up against "mob rule" after "aggressive" activists reportedly targeted her home over the weekend, which scared her neighbors.

"I wanted to update you on recent events, particularly those that occurred late last night," Carmen Best wrote in a letter addressed to City Council President Lorena González and Public Safety Chair Lisa Herbold. "A residence of mine in Snohomish County was targeted by a large group of aggressive protestors late last night. My neighbors were concerned by such a large group, but they were successful in ensuring the crowd was not able to trespass or engage in other illegal behavior in the area, despite repeated attempts to do so. Currently, the local sheriff (not SPD resources) is monitoring the situation."

"I urge both of you, and the entire council, to stand up for what is right. These direct actions against elected officials, and especially civil servants like myself, are out of line with and go against every democratic principle that guides our nation," Best continued. "Before this devolves into the new way of doing business by mob rule here in Seattle, and across the nation, elected officials like you must forcefully call for the end of these tactics."

"The events of this summer were initiated in a moment of grief and outrage over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis coppers and so many other Black and Brown people suffering at the hands of injustice," Best concluded. "All of us must ensure that this righteous cause is not lost in the confusion of so many protestors now engaging in violence and intimidation, which many are not speaking against."
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM

#1  Hittin' a little close to home?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 14:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Have not been around in awhile. Good to see Fred has Antifa and the rest of the practitioners of Critical Theory classified under WoT Ops. They will not stop with this as Critical Theory has no end and no solution.
Posted by: TomAnon || 08/04/2020 18:49 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iran strikes Kurdish opposition party base in Kurdistan Region territory
[Rudaw] Unmanned Iranian drones and artillery shells struck a number of bases belonging to a Kurdish opposition group in Erbil province on Monday, an official affiliated with the group confirmed, with no casualties reported.

The strikes hit the mountainous Barbzin area of Erbil, close to the Kurdistan Region-Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
border, the head of the Kurdistan Peshmerga Command — affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) armed opposition group — told Rudaw.

"The unmanned drones targeted our bases with missiles causing no casualties," said official Kawa Bahrami.

Monday's shelling comes six weeks after both Iranian artillery and Ottoman Turkish drones struck Erbil province's Haji Omaran district bordering Iran — just days after The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
launched its continuing air and ground campaign on suspected Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases within Kurdistan Region borders.

Since 2016, a number of the Iranian Kurdish parties including the PDKI have transferred their bases from populated areas of the Kurdistan Region to the border with Iran. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has called on armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups not to launch attacks against neighboring countries from Kurdistan Region territory.

Local civilian Fakhir Taha told Rudaw via telephone that "a number of cowherders who are out letting their animals graze are stuck."

Ibrahim Nadir, a cowherder who had put his animals out to pasture in Barbzin, told Rudaw via telephone that he saw "Iranian artillery shells hit a [KDPI's] base."

"I saw a vehicle leaving the base. I'm not sure if it was rushing out the injured or not," Nadir said.

"We're safe and sound, but scared of the artillery shelling. We're stuck in hiding," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Iraqi forces arrest ISIS women infiltrating from Syria
[TWITTER]

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, ISIS women tried to infiltrate to the Iraqi territories through the villages of Rabia district in Mosul, but they were arrested with the assistance of intelligence forces.

The ministry said that these families tried to enter illegally in order to avoid prosecution.

“The men of those women are linked to ISIS terrorist gangs and fought against our security forces during the liberation battles and then fled to Syria,” the ministry statement reads.

Iraqi security forces said in an earlier statement that some desert areas near the Iraqi border with Syria are still used by ISIS sleeper cells.
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Nigeria (Iran)


Iraqi forces arrest 6 ISIS terrorists in Nineveh province
[EN.ALGHADEER.TV] Iraqi Interior Ministry issued a statement on Monday saying that the Ministry of Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism forces have arrested six ISIS turbans in different parts of Nineveh province under Article 4 of the Terrorism Act.

These elements admitted that they had participated in several operations against Iraqi security forces and civilians during the occupation of the province by ISIS.

The ISIS terrorist group still has a number of cells in the northern, eastern and southern regions of Iraq and has intensified its attacks on Iraqi civilians and security forces in the past two months which has been unprecedented since 2017. Hashed al-Sha’abi forces (PMF) and the Iraqi Army have carried out more than 60 military operations against turbans during this period.

Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Al-Kadhimi set to internationalize the search for Kidnapped Yezidis
[EN.ALGHADEER.TV] Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi vowed to seriously search for the Kidnapped Yezidis and turn it into an international effort to return them to their families.

"Al-Kadhimi received a delegation of Yezidi survivors from Sinjar district, the village of Kuju and the surrounding areas," PM’s office said in a statement received by al-Ghadeer.

Al-Kadhimi recalled the brutal crime against the Yezidis on that fateful day, the third of August 2014, by the ISIS terrorist gangs, and the difficult conditions they lived in after occupying their areas and villages. "

The Prime Minister emphasized that "what happened to the Yezidis constituted an Iraqi pain that will not be repeated, a heinous crime that attracted the attention and sympathy of world public opinion, just as the whole world stood with their cause for the horrors they were exposed to."

Al-Kadhimi pledged to "seriously search for the Kidnapped Yezidi, and turn it into an international effort in order to return them to their families," stressing that "justice must take its course."

The third Monday of August marks the sixth anniversary of the attack by the terrorist organization ISIS against the Sinjar district and the surrounding areas, and its genocide against Yezidis there.
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Beirut goes BOOM!
[Twitter]



















Posted by: 3dc || 08/04/2020 11:53 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Alas, Babylon, anyone?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/04/2020 12:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "At least we don't have to unload the ship now"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/04/2020 12:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Massive explosion shakes Lebanon's capital
Posted by: Blackbeard Shereth7818 || 08/04/2020 12:25 Comments || Top||

#4  first part of video consistent with fireworks theory

the gigantic boom at the end was something different
Posted by: lord garth || 08/04/2020 12:25 Comments || Top||

#5  It's the Middle East where people have been killing people for millennia. That's what happens when there are too may competing religions.
Posted by: jpal || 08/04/2020 12:44 Comments || Top||


#7  Alas, Babylon, anyone?

Loved the story.
Kept the paperback until pages started falling out.
Got a dachshund to warm the bed and took up river sailing.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 12:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Fireworks? There were big gunpowder/fireworks explosions in history, and no one described a mushroom cloud until the nuclear age.

(Except Pliny the Younger, and no one believed his description of Vesuvius exploding until the nuclear age.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/04/2020 13:08 Comments || Top||

#9  Maybe it started with fireworks, but that big boom? I find that hard to believe.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/04/2020 13:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Stackin all em missiles was hard work! Time for coffee and a smoke.
BOOM
Oops.
Posted by: Spot || 08/04/2020 13:16 Comments || Top||

#11  I guess somebody in Hizballah had a canning scheme for importing munitions via commercial shipping.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/04/2020 13:18 Comments || Top||

#12  A shipload of "fireworks" for a country that can barely afford food and fuel, whose FM just resigned and a banking system and currency in collapse. Yeah, go on - Pull the other one
Posted by: Frank G || 08/04/2020 13:22 Comments || Top||

#13  This is a rapidly evolving story, so there will be more updates, Ik’m sure. Thank you, 3dc, for being on top of this for us, and for all the rest of you who’ve been posting updates.

The Jerusalem Post reports hundreds injured.

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday and a tall plume of smoke could be seen from a distance. The explosion took place at the Beirut Port. According to Lebanese media, ambulances were transporting hundreds of injured people to local hospitals and dozens may have been killed in the incident.

Multiple videos from the area showed a plume of smoke rising from near the coastline and then a large blast and shockwave. Buildings throughout the area were damaged in the blast. The Daily Star newspaper, for example, released a video from its offices showing extensive damage.

There were at least 11 bodies found inside the port and contact was lost with a firefighting crew and a number of port employees, according to Lebanese reports. The Secretary-General of the Kataeb Party was critically injured in the incident, according to Al-Hadath.

According to the Daily Star, two explosions were reported at the port.

The source of the explosion was unclear. LBCI Lebanon News claimed that a fire had broken out at the port and then triggered an explosion of a nearby warehouse storing fireworks. According to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen news, the explosion occurred in a warehouse storing benzine, a flammable chemical. Sources from Hezbollah told OTV Lebanon that there was "no truth" to reports that the explosion was caused by an Israeli strike on Hezbollah weapons at the port. Israeli defense officials denied that Israel had any connection to the incident.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/04/2020 13:23 Comments || Top||

#14  It looks like whatever was in the basement of the building next to the original fire went off. That was one serious explosion. The entire building was vaporized. Fireworks for weddings, huh?
Posted by: Spot || 08/04/2020 13:27 Comments || Top||

#15  but that big boom?

Decimated the grain elevator.
Could be dust.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 13:28 Comments || Top||

#16  Could be a grain dust explosion. I'd like to hear the opinion of someone with experience blowing stuff up.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/04/2020 13:31 Comments || Top||

#17  Blast apparently caused by explosive materials seized from ship, stored at port

[IsraelTimes] After conflicting initial reports, Lebanese officials are now suggesting that the explosion was caused by highly explosive confiscated materials rather than fireworks.

Director-General of Lebanon Public Security Abbas Ibrahim says: “The storage area contained highly explosive materials confiscated years ago. To discuss fireworks is laughable.”

“I can’t predict what the investigation will reveal about the reasons for the explosion,” Ibrahim adds.

Local media reports the materials were seized off a ship and stored at a warehouse at the port.

“What we saw looked like Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It’s absolutely unprecedented in Lebanon’s history,” says Beirut governor Phillip Boulos.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has called an emergency cabinet meeting
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/04/2020 14:00 Comments || Top||

#18  That last little boom reminded me a bit of a fuel-air explosion.

Confined space, volatile dust and/or aerosolized chemicals, not so much your ordinary bottle rockets or 'Brocade Blitz' finale set.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/04/2020 14:02 Comments || Top||

#19  Nothing to worry yourselves about here. Just Muslims celebrating some ransom religious holiday.
Posted by: jpal || 08/04/2020 14:08 Comments || Top||

#20  The red in the explosion cloud would have a unique chemical signature which would say what it is. I don't have the expertise to make a guess besides strontium carbonate is in there somewhere if fireworks.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/04/2020 14:09 Comments || Top||

#21  This is what happens when Lebanese fireworks factories don't follow strict Islamic work values.
Posted by: jpal || 08/04/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||

#22  Witnesses have stressed the sheer enormity of the blast, which was reportedly heard in Cyprus, and likened it to a 'nuclear bomb'.

Windows were blown out 15 miles away. Has a nuke been ruled out?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/04/2020 14:37 Comments || Top||

#23  We'd have heard reports of radiation if it were nuclear. I have no doubt that was one of the first things that was checked -- likely Israel and the US already flew planes over with air sampling equipment.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/04/2020 14:48 Comments || Top||

#24  Looks like Lebanese officials are sticking with the explanation of ship full of fireworks.

Iranian fireworks maybe?
Posted by: gorb || 08/04/2020 14:51 Comments || Top||

#25  Beirut blast: Dozens dead and thousands injured, health minister says
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 15:16 Comments || Top||

#26  According to Major General Ibrahim, Lebanese Director of Intelligence, it's Sodium Nitrate that was left lying around from months ago when it was confiscated. The fireworks spread and set it off.

I'm personally reading through Ian Miles Cheong twitter feed for the videos. Some amazing stuff.
Posted by: Charles || 08/04/2020 15:31 Comments || Top||

#27  So it looks like it's in the same class as 1947's Texas City Blast.
Wikipedia on Texas City Blast of 1947
Posted by: 3dc || 08/04/2020 16:03 Comments || Top||

#28  so


ammonium nitrate from one warehouse and fuel oil from a warehouse on top of it

perhaps
Posted by: lord garth || 08/04/2020 16:57 Comments || Top||

#29  NaNO3 as an oxidizer.
Possibly a diesel mix, which would yield the black smoke.



Posted by: Skidmark || 08/04/2020 17:10 Comments || Top||

#30  Then there is this:

https://twitter.com/BeholdIsrael/status/1290734190045077504


Amir Tsarfati (@BeholdIsrael)
Experts that examined the Beirut explosion footage concluded that it was rocket fuel that exploded. That confirms that it was part of Hezbollah weapon percision program where they turned dumb rockets into smart guided ones.

https://twitter.com/BeholdIsrael/status/1290735542167048198



Amir Tsarfati (@BeholdIsrael)
The “Al Arabiya” online newspaper confirms that the blast in Beirut was in a storage of weapons and ammunition of Hezbollah!
Posted by: newc || 08/04/2020 17:30 Comments || Top||

#31  confirms that the blast in Beirut was in a storage of weapons and ammunition of Hezbollah!
But not, according to Hezbollah as reported by the Jerusalem Post in #13, caused an Israeli strike. File under Own petard, hoisted by. And elsewhere it was reported today that Hezbollah absconded with a large amount of the nearly bankrupt nation’s money —- tomorrow will be a bery interesting day for them, I fear.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/04/2020 17:41 Comments || Top||

#32  If it were fireworks, would there not be colored blooms instead of entirely white concussion poppers?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/04/2020 18:37 Comments || Top||

#33  Got the feeling watching the shock wave condensation this was a legit explosion; looking at the on-site damage video this was not flashy but a Big Boomer Jar Jar.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/04/2020 18:43 Comments || Top||


#35  Bellingcat has some good details.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020/08/04/what-just-blew-up-in-beirut/
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 08/04/2020 19:44 Comments || Top||

#36  Fireworks? There were big gunpowder/fireworks explosions in history, and no one described a mushroom cloud until the nuclear age.

Well, I just read that the Halifax explosion produced one.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 08/04/2020 20:21 Comments || Top||

#37  If the men in video 6 were standing where they were when the 2nd explosion hit, I would hate to be them.
Posted by: Whearong McCoy9589 || 08/04/2020 21:33 Comments || Top||

#38  Ammonium Nitrate storage in port area. Meant for what and where, anyone's guess.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/04/2020 23:49 Comments || Top||


Feuding clans Clashes in Al_Hasakeh city leave three people dead and others injured
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Tal_Abyad Turkish forces and proxy factions shell village in countryside
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Military escalation continues in the countryside of Latakia and Idlib
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Body of a Turkish soldier was found dead from multiple gunshots
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


12 pro-regime, 6 rebel fighters die in Syria clashes
[Al Ahram] Jihadists and allied rebels in northwestern Syria Monday killed at least 12 pro-regime fighters, thwarting their advance, a Britannia-based war monitoring group said.

Another 17 pro-regime fighters were maimed while on the jihadist-led side six fighters died, said the Britannia-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The forces loyal to President Bashar-al Assad had launched an attack with artillery and heavy gunfire in Syria's last major opposition bastion, said the war monitor.

But the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS) alliance, headed by ex-leaders of Syria's former al-Qaeda affiliate, and their allies reportedly thwarted the advance.

Four HTS and two other rebel fighters were killed in the festivities in a rural area of Latakia province, the monitor said.

The HTS-led alliance also controls large areas of Idlib province and slivers of territory in neighbouring Aleppo and Hama.

The region they hold is home to some three million people, nearly half of whom have been displaced from other parts of the country.

Syria's nine-year-old war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced nearly half of the country's pre-war population.

The rebel-held area is a regular target of attacks by regime forces and their Russian and Iranian allies.
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Israel says it launched air strikes on Syrian army positions
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/04/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2020-08-04
  Beruit goes BOOM!
Mon 2020-08-03
  Israel army says it has foiled a terror attack at the border with Syria
Sun 2020-08-02
  Turkish brig.-gen. executed for revealing Qatari funding of jihadists
Sat 2020-08-01
  Turkey Sends Fighter Jets to Azerbaijan After Threat to Bomb a Nuclear Power Plant
Fri 2020-07-31
  Indonesian Court Convicts, Sentences Top 2 Jemaah Islamiyah Militants
Thu 2020-07-30
  ISIS claims responsibility for killing of top Iraqi commander
Wed 2020-07-29
  Iran launched several ballistic missiles from Iran to the Southern Arabian Gulf
Tue 2020-07-28
  Germany arrests ISIS woman who abused Yezidi woman in Syria
Mon 2020-07-27
  Islamic extremists in Nigeria execute 5 men as warning against converting to Christianity
Sun 2020-07-26
  Allahu akbar: Turks hold Hagia Sophia triumphal march
Sat 2020-07-25
  Taliban ready for intra-Afghan dialogue immediately after Eid
Fri 2020-07-24
  Federal officers in Portland may have been permanently blinded by lasers
Thu 2020-07-23
  Photo Appears to Show Black Lives Matter Supporters Holding Down and Kneeling on Neck of White Baby
Wed 2020-07-22
  At Least 14 People Wounded In Mass Shooting Outside Funeral in Chicago
Tue 2020-07-21
  BLM Beats Conservative Michelle Malkin With Clubs In Denver


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