Live from moscow this is our to international my names you know neal good to have your company. Our breaking news on the program a devastating explosion. Beirut government officials are saying at least 70 people are dead 3700 injured the blast went off in the citys poor to area destroying buildings within a large radius. Im glad. You. 3 are harmed. Among the reaction i got in the ensuing aftermath were from 2 reporters in beirut talking it over in whole the way they told us more about the fallout from the devastating exploding. The devastation here in the lebanese capital is very modest if it is being estimated by tens of millions of dollars as we said earlier the blast how it was felt 10 kilometers away from the port where it took place i believe this is going to be a sleepless night for the lebanese and a very sad night on social media a lot of lebanese are ferrying to the incident unfortunately there are foreign to it as lebanons hiroshima of course theres no comparison between a nuclear bomb and whats happened today but its only shows how deeply impacted and how saddened they are and how devastating this explosion has been on the up and on and on the lebanese who are already grappling with very bad Economic Situation kovac 19 proreform demonstrations or demonstrations asking felt lemonades corruption from the power sharing system prevailing in the country the list. So this just adds further hurt and injury and tragedy to the lebanese people. In the bomb blast youre starting to break down from they watched large parts of the air. From the right so i made up the rights to that significant amount injured. Down suited me she happened to build the infrastructure in her every. State. Shops around the street you see behind me you know that in terms of the importance of left in the street she infrastructure and. It was very much a strain. On going and academic condemning this country every day im. Taking. A look at right its been. Very very. Positive very very. Lets cross live now to our middle east correspondent paula slayer in tel aviv who has been following developments over the last number of hours and paula about the death toll just seems to be creeping up and up every time we come back to tell us more about the devastating explosion today in lebanon. Well yes as you say about the death toll the latest figures were receiving all 73 people dead and 3700 people who have been injured and no doc when you cross to me again those figures unfortunately will have climbed yet again were hearing that a uniform ship was destroyed in this explosion thats been described as the largest blast in lebanons history now were hearing from a Lebanese Security official that about 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate exploded at the beirut airport and that would possibly explain the 2nd explosion which seems to have set off fuel tanks now no confirmation. As of yet to to any of that although this is new hearing such a statement from the emir from the security official until now we have been told by the interior ministry to wait for the official investigation to conclude for it to release the details in terms of what has happened because of course theres a lot of speculation some of that speculation involves that i think israel has been the ones behind the attacks but both the groups have denied responsibility and not eyewitnesses reported feeling massive explosions at the same time they say that the entire area was destroyed if you look at some of the pictures circulating on social media youll see the same building set on worms shattered glass everywhere a Mushroom Cloud that was overhead this is what one eyewitness told us. It was i saw something flash and i put your anymore i looked at the taxi driver i wanted to make sure that he was having the same experience experiencing the same thing as me so what i used on theres something wrong with me he stopped the car you looked back at me and then suddenly we heard very loud explosion the glass shattered all over the car the cars around us the buildings all the glass just one dont it was raining glass all over the city of beirut now hospitals are in chaos they are having to theyre having to turn people away they are treating patients on the pavements and the streets leading to the hospital so that is how bad the situation is there canada has now joined jordan in offering assistance and no doubt well hear from more countries israel is also offering assistance there was a a directive that was given by the israeli Prime Minister offering aid to the lebanese through a 3rd party because of course the 2 countries are still technically at war now were also hearing that from a freak International Airport has been partly destroyed so as the time goes by. The exact extent of damage will become more and more clear a national day of mourning has to work tomorrow well i should say today at the same time the Prime Minister has said that he was going to conduct. A program they would be were going to take on anyone and the only thing that was a sponsor or someone who will reveal everything regarding this dangerous warehouse which has been there since 214. 00 and those responsible for the explosion in beirut will be. Now the explosion was so now that it was heard of as far afield as cyclists which is more than 200 kilometers away the city is still reeling from the devastation we hear that emergency workers are still trying to reach some of the trapped people in the wreckage and that this Emergency Operation will continue for some hours to come and offers of help are coming in just looking at some of the turkey germany of offered Emergency Assistance to lebanon all those has where you are israel right now can you tell us more about whats known about the Overall International reaction. Well indeed initially we heard and it was quite soon after the blasts a denial from israeli officials who were talking anonymously saying that in no way was israel was sponsible for what had happened because of course the initial speculation was that the israelis would somehow be behind this and now weve heard from the Prime Ministers office saying that Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has given a directive for israel to offer a. Assistance in the terms of humanitarian and maybe aid now this is unprecedented because of course the 2 countries all technically east of the wall and we havent as of yet had any indication from the lebanese side whether or not. They will except the israeli author it doesnt stop the speculation that israel might have been responsible for the blast but as i say that im merely fueling more speculation and what were hearing from the lebanese government is not to speculate that they really are carrying out a thorough investigation there has been increased tensions in recent days between israel and the militant movement in lebanon and weve seen Israeli Soldiers go on high alone along israels northern border in fact i was at the northern border a few days ago and i saw in the mass and of tanks and armored personnel vehicles there whether this is a continuation of that or whether it just seems to be some kind of disastrous mistake only time will tell. Us leader or middle east bureau chief for you for q 4 that we were going toward guests in just a moment just to recap the death toll is climbing seemingly by the hour after a devastating explosion in lebanons capital beirut. Government officials are saying at least 70 people are more than 37 hundreds more injured in these leave his pictures part of medics can be seen rushing the injured to hospital the blast went off in the citys port area destroying buildings within a larger radius the coals so far its believed to have set off fuel tanks causing a 2nd blast and a huge fire the World Health Organization has sent medical supplies including surgical kits to treat 500 injured people in groups. Well im happy to say we can bring in journalist. Also. System professor of Public Policy at Northeastern University in boston welcome to you both running into you 1st year in beirut the moment can you tell us what you what you heard and saw today. Well i was in the friends apartment luckily not my own because my own is pretty destroyed and had i been there i would have been either severely injured or dead but i was at a friends apartment and initially what felt like an earthquake. With the ground shaking turned into all the windows kind of blowing at the same time some sort of pressure and explosion like nothing ive ever experienced and since then you know ive been around the city and everything i mean no building is left untouched everything will shop every single Hotel Everything residential building every single restaurant there is. You know blown out door its just the level of devastation shocking its the best i can come up with that shocking and this comes on top of a already very severe economic collapse thats been taking place in lebanon over the past year and its gotten gotten worse because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thats i mean this is you know just another level of devastation this took place at the port where many imports come into the country including medical supplies and clothing. Stores this is just for a country that is having a dollar shortage where the money is losing value and that is dependent 80 percent of the products that come into this country are imported. Is dependent on imports this is going to have catastrophic consequences on the people that live here incredible testimony theyre going to bring you in we still dont know if this was an attack or an accident the government says there were explosives stored in the area how does the situation look to you. My initial thought could be foul play. There have been numerous literally hundreds of unclear explosions in the area are north of rio primarily in syria and what typically happens. Is really Defense Forces do not clear credit for the attacks even though we know theyre going go in and we know that within the last couple do it is. Increasing tensions between the. Militants whatever you want to say how i really want to call resistance fighters. Israel took of. Quite recently furthermore there have been claimed explosions in your role in iraq of course also projects power into what you know theres been sort of a tit for tat are you symmetric side of being between israel and iran are and so when this explode. When all of you know our blog. Is read your. Own but then i thought i saw that but i dont want to fuel my per section narrow. Because i was not the only. No it wasnt both but sources close to follow also seem to have very room and said this does not appear to be in when you have a convergence with israel and hezbollah saying essentially the same thing in the wall chances are running bring you back in you are just seeing how devastating this could be with the poor the amount of food thats brought in but its a perfect storm of other issues as well isnt it we know that turkey indeed israel has offered medical monitoring it germany has offered Financial Assistance as well could that take some of the strain off the Health Care System which is most directly affected tonight. Im certain certainly any aid would take strain off of the Health Care System that was already you know on the at the Tipping Point you know lebanons Health Care System because of the economic collapse was already on its way to collapse itself so it was already suffering and unable to handle the very tiny surge in covert cases that lebanon was experiencing over the last few weeks so certainly any aid that comes in would be helpful i would have to agree with what max. This does so far at least based on initial you know analyses by the own government general security they do believe that this was likely an accident is a terrible accident i mean this is like an unprecedented explosion and ive got a rocky friends telling me theyve never even seen anything like it. Its pretty extreme but it does seem to be an accident and you know it will be interesting to see if the International Community comes to lebanons aid. Because you know so far lebanon of course like i mentioned. Its going through an economic collapse and nobody was willing to help so maybe this will be the thing that helped lebanon ultimately i dont know but judging by the physical destruction. Its going to take a very long time to fix whats broken here its very much look. Theres been youre seeing severe unrest the countrys on the brink of economic clear heavy heavily devalued currency. As we went through there are soaring food costs are going to happen there were happening before but no to extreme levels could this tragedy be a Tipping Point looks. You know im really no i dont know a little bit and special and focus is uniquely of that country move more so in terms of the. Geopolitical. When there really doesnt seem to be those dynamics in this case he really seems to be. But i do know that that country has go with your financial woes of the value of their currency declining. A recent calamitous you know. History. Whenever you have this sort of the actual you know obstacle facing a culturally as well as. Globally in terms of protests. In the country of lebanon i wouldnt be surprised if there are sort of local political you know facts you know and just you know cannot be d. M. Running are you expecting the lebanese Prime Minister the government to make a Statement Public address maybe to the country we know that earlier he declared the a day of mourning for the explosion but theyre going to be called to Training Course on the rescue work and thats going to be happening for for quite some time. Yeah i mean i imagine theyll be a several statements tomorrow by different officials that theyre calling it a day of mourning and im sure theyll be you know theyll be saying a lot but at this point i mean just Walking Around this. Country the last couple weeks since ive been back theres a sort of like misery in the air because of the economic decline because of the pandemic and i i mean the looks on peoples faces there just a new level of tired. Just a really of like resigned you know exhaustion so i dont know what the future holds for lebanon but its a pretty dreary and bleak. Future judging by what im seeing around me. And you know i i just i mean everyone i cant even describe to you like everybodys homes are damaged right now the rich and the poor i mean the wealthiest people who live in the nicest guy rises had their windows blasted you know into them and their families like i just say the Nicest Hotels in lebanon which you know it depends on for tourism are destroyed its really just unbelievable i dont really have words to describe it it is such a devastating time running a thanks though for coming on the program after what you experienced a ensuring whats occurred a local journalist. As an assistant professor of Public Policy in Northeastern University in boston thank you both. Now the explosion happened in the port area of the lebanese capital of beirut lets go through what is known its a densely populated district with plenty of residential buildings nearby the blast destroyed buildings over a wide area the shock waves could be felt for a field the cypress thats around 240 kilometers away no the exact cause of the blast is still unknown but lebanons interior minister has said it happened in they were hosts storing Ammonium Nitrate a volatile chemical compound used in both fertilizers and. Lets take a look right now it was something these are live pictures of water all going fires thats what happened after the immediate. Then in nearby regions of swelled in the beirut port area and further into the city center to 20 minutes after. The blaze has been raging for over 6 hours the lebanese interior minister says the explosion appears to have been caused by about a huge stock pile of Ammonium Nitrate in the ports area the 1st explosion in beirut was reportedly followed by a secondary blast when a fuel depo caught fire causing a muscle loss of these are live pictures right now it just fires on the emergency crews trying to deal with the immediate aftermath of the explosion. I. Mean. You know very long night ahead in the richest extraordinary pictures lets get to some analysis now with Foreign Policy analyst roberts name and robert youre welcome back to the program always good to see you its still unclear whether this was an attack or not just in some 6 hours after it occurred how does the situation appear to us that. We dont know as you just said so theres this the balance of evidence in the moment seems to be accident. From you know various was posing with the israeli with the Israeli Government saying what the lebanese government is saying so. Well know more soon i suppose but if i had to guess knowledge that an accident. Turkey and germany have offered emergency aid to lebanon as her neighbors israel were dealing with 2 countries still technically at war with one another how significant is that and will will this help actually help matters in such a terrible situation the countrys been going through before this. Well this is part of the. You know previous guests know this is a moment of high tension in lebanon. In the region with the. Economic crisis a political crisis the colgan crisis in the region tension between. Israel and hezbollah and. The conflict in syria so many different parties. So theres always the danger escalation between. Israel and hezbollah even though both sides dont want it there. For the aid is offered from one nation to another though. But that i would imagine its rare for aid to be offered from one of those nations to another. Well so the review is bombing yemen and its a major funder of International Humanitarian efforts you could find another example but i see. The offer of aid isnt isnt a bad thing its a good thing positive thing. The threats of violence are bad and the actuality of violence is bad and i think one takeaway we can. See here is the danger of allowing all these problems to fester the. Loss of why. From this incident and the harm is going to be worse because of all the already existing problems because of the financial political and help crisis that was already taking place and you know similar story to yemen where you already had the worst humanitarian crisis in the world because of the saudi war and blocking in now they have called me and the Health System was already 32 hearings on the brink of collapse people said well thats it you know thats the last drive down total collapse so we saw everything. All these onerous all problems from before. June new scrutiny now because we see in the moment of crisis these countries are. Even in a weaker position to deal with shocks like this because of the crazy on going crazy they are already experiencing some of which are the result of actions of foreign powers time in spain id like to actually spawn more in the past were just going shortly to break a Foreign Policy analyst Robert Naiman robert thanks for coming on the program. Good to be. On indeed just before we do lets get an update in fact on our breaking news story at least 70 people have died in a devastating explosion in the lebanese capital beirut more than 3700 are injured according to the Health Ministry the government say half the building in beirut suffered damage in the half the buildings in beirut thats a new line coming in suffered damage in the blast the lebanese interior minister say the explosion appears to have been caused by a huge stockpile of Ammonium Nitrate in the port area but it is still unclear whether the blast was an accident or deliberate the army has taken control of all districts near the ports Israels Defense Ministry has offered humanitarian and medical assistance to lebanon but 2 countries are still as weve been saying technically war turkey has offered to send medical aid to the country where intensive care units are reportedly unable to cope with the huge influx of injured patients now the 1st explosion. In beirut was reportedly followed by a 2nd blast when a fuel caught fire. So any and all updates on this breaking news this one solitary story we have been delving into trying to bring in as much as we possibly can over the last number of hours we will continue to do so through the night live from moscow this is our to international. All across to or trying to sit down in the polls and not just by going through traditionally incumbency alone is enough to win the election but this time it is a very strong and lets be clear this is little to do with joe my. Is your media a reflection of reality. In a world transformed. What will make you feel safe. Isolation or community. Are you going the right way or are you being led so. Direct. What is true what is faith. In a world corrupted you need to descend. To join us in the depths. Aura made in the shallows. I know team no crowd. No shots. Actually felt speak. Well strap no 1st. Points your thirst for action. The little. 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