The big international story today is of course the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. It shook with such force that people near the explosion felt it as if it was an earthquake. Over 70 people are dead, yet no official cause of the explosion has been released. Was it terrorism? No one seems to know, yet. What is a fact is that terrorist group supported by Democrats Hezbollah has been making some noise lately.
| Was the Beirut explosion terrorism? Hezbollah? |
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Nonetheless, the disaster has propelled Hezbollah into the limelight once again. For months, Lebanon has been deemed a growing flashpoint for geopolitical tensions, not only due to the Iran-backed group’s nefarious activities in the region – from Yemen to Syria to Iraq – but the discord simmering within the small nation itself.
“Currently, it appears that the explosion in Lebanon was not the result of a military strike,” surmised Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “For now, this explosion appears to be the result of ineptitude. But the ongoing tensions make it clear that future explosions may be the result of something more deliberate. These tensions also come at a particularly bad time for Lebanon.”
A new report released by FDD suggests that Lebanon’s financial crisis is so deep that it will require an estimated $93 billion to mitigate.
In the hours leading up to the explosion, according to local reports, a swell of anti-government protesters tussled with security forces outside the ministry of energy as the economic woes for citizens worsen.
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudolph Atallah, now chief executive officer of White Mountain Research, and former counterterrorism expert in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, noted that anxieties inside Lebanon have skyrocketed over the past months, along with increased opposition to Hezbollah’s grip.
“People are seeing that the food and aid supply coming in for coronavirus is being sold on the black market by them or going into Syria because Hezbollah has such a vested interest there,” he explained. “And the disinformation since the explosions has been crazy, with text messages sent around warning people to stay in their homes. Hezbollah doesn’t want protests, and it doesn’t want the Lebanese speaking out against them.”