Lebanon. The aftermath of the explosion in Beirut

1 Lebanon

«The death toll of the explosion in Beirut went up to 137, the number of the injured went up to 5,000. Dozens of people are missing» — the ‘Al Jazeera’ TV reports while citing the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The Lebanese Interior Minister, Mohammed Fahmi, rejected the assumption of a possible involvement of Israel in the explosion in Beirut. Earlier he promised that the investigation will be «as transparent as possible», and it will take 5 days. The Israeli authorities also denied such rumors. On Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that by an order from the Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and the Israeli Defense Minister Beni Gantz, Israel used the international channels to offer «humanitarian and medical aid to the government of Lebanon». It was reported that the 4th aircraft of the Russian Emergency Ministry has arrived to Beirut. The Russian Emergency teams deployed an air-mobile hospital in Beirut in order to provide help to the victims of the explosion.

2 Iran — Lebanon

Iran called on the world community to make the USA to lift their sanctions against Lebanon. «The damage done to a large part of Beirut’s infrastructure has escalated the tragedy of the Lebanese people. We must take into account the brutal sanctions imposed by the USA on the Lebanese people in recent months. All countries, friendly to Lebanon, and the world community in general, should make efforts to immediately lift the sanctions in order to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe» — the local mass media quoted the chairman of the Supreme Court of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi.

3 Syria

The Syrian newspaper «Al-Watan» reported that the illegal US military base in the Hasakah province, in north-east of Syria, came under rocket fire. It was reported that the US base, located in the city of al-Shaddadi, was attacked by unknown forces. No details were given. Earlier the local mass media reported about attacks of unknown forces on the US troops in the Syrian provinces of Al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor. The Pentagon denies this information.

4 The USA — Iran

The US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that during the next week, the USA will submit to the UN Security Council a draft resolution to extend the arms embargo against Iran. Michael Pompeo added that the vote is expected to take place on the next week. He underlined that if the resolution is vetoed — the USA will onesidedly seek an extension of the arms embargo. «The proposal that we have put forward is entirely reasonable. One way or another, we will ensure the extension of the arms embargo. We won’t allow the arms embargo to expire on 18th of October» — said Michael Pompeo.

5 Russia — The USA

The Russian Embassy in Washington stated that the US State Department’s report on the «ecosystem of the Russian disinformation and propaganda» is an attempt to «drown out the official Russian proposals to resume the cooperation in the key areas, needed for the security of the entire world». It was underlined that the document from the US State Department is aimed to discredit the alternative sources of information. «Any voice that contradicts Washington is declared as a disinformation platform in the service of the Kremlin and the Russian special services» — the Russian diplomatic mission explained. On Wednesday, the US State Department made a special report on the «ecosystem of the Russian disinformation and propaganda». According to the report — Washington considers Russia to be the leading threat in the matters of disinformation and propaganda.