Lebanese President Michel Aoun said yesterday that sabotage has not been ruled out, yet, as a cause of the Aug. 4 explosion in the port of Beirut. “The cause has not been determined yet. There is a possibility of external interference through a rocket or bomb or other act,” he told local media, reported Reuters. Aoun said the investigation would also weigh if the blast was due to negligence or an accident. Twenty people had been detained so far, he further said.
Aoun also said that he found out about the existence of ammonium nitrate at the port some three weeks before it blew up, and while he ordered that something be done about it, he really didn’t have the power to do anything. “Do you know how many problems have been accumulating?” Aoun replied when a reporter pressed whether he should have followed up on his order, reported the Associated Press.
“The material had been there for seven years, since 2013. It has been there, and they said it is dangerous and I am not responsible. I don’t know where it was placed. I don’t even know the level of danger,” Aoun said. He said that when he was told of the stockpile June 20, he immediately ordered military and security officials “to do what is needed.”
“There are ranks that should know their duties, and they were all informed. ... When you refer a document and say, `Do what is needed,’ isn’t that an order?” he demanded to know.
