huge explosions in Lebanon

The big news from across the planet is the occurrence of two huge explosions in Beirut, Lebanon, at the port located in the al-Marfa'a district. Theorycrafting has reached a fever pitch, with wild-eyed guesses that Israel or the United States must have nuked Lebanon being among the stupidest of the theories. While some are claiming the explosion originated in a fireworks-storage facility, others (and I think they're probably right) are speculating that only a munitions depot could store enough ordnance to do this sort of damage.* Videos of the two explosions abound, but they usually don't feature the first explosion as it happens: instead, they show footage of the towering cloud left by the first explosion, and then moments later—since the cameras are already trained on that spot—they show the horrific beginning of the second, much larger explosion. Here is one such video:


Articles about the explosions were churned out immediately. I saw this news before I went to sleep last night, so the articles I'm linking to below are several hours old and might not have the most current information.

Beirut explosions: what we know so far

How much worse can things get for Lebanon?

The second link is to a Spectator article, so you might have to subscribe to The Spectator to see it in full. Subscription is free, though, so subscribing isn't a huge inconvenience.

The UK's The Guardian puts the current casualty toll at 78 dead and over 4000 injured.

With a little searching, I'm sure you can find dozens of articles about Beirut right now.

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*As several talking heads are pointing out, this raises the question of why the munitions weren't being properly stored at a military base.