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Welders attempting to fix a broken gate in Beirut’s port may have inadvertently triggered a political revolution. A spark from their work might have started the fire which triggered last week’s disastrous blast. Which threatens to destroy Lebanon’s political system.
The apparent explosion of ammonium nitrate carelessly stored in downtown Beirut reflected negligence on a grand, unimaginable scale. In a blast that wreaked havoc up to five miles away, more than 160 people were killed, hundreds remain missing, thousands were wounded, many seriously. Some 300,000 are homeless. Thousands of buildings—businesses, churches, hospitals, office buildings, apartments, restaurants, and other normal features of urban life—were wrecked. Reconstruction, estimated to cost as much as $15 billion, more than a quarter of last year’s GDP, is well beyond the government’s capability.