Syria link to chemicals that caused Beirut port blast

Documentary reveals involvement of figures close to Assad regime in ammonium nitrate shipment

The blast at Beirut port on August 4, 2020 was caused by tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate stored there since 2013.Karim Sokhn/Instagram/Ksokhn + T

Three businessmen sanctioned by the United States for providing support for President Bashar Assad's regime since the outbreak of the Syrian war have links to the company that bought the explosive chemicals blamed for the enormous Beirut explosion in August, a new investigation found.

Syrian-Russian citizens George Haswani and brothers Imad and Mudalal Khuri formerly directed or served at companies with the same address as Savaro Limited, the shell company that in 2013 bought the 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that ended up at Beirut port later that year, according to an investigation by Lebanese documentary filmmaker Firas Hatoum.

In 2015, the US sanctioned Mr Haswani for “materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the government of Syria” and accused Mudalal Khuri of serving as "an intermediary between [Syrian central bank official] Batoul Rida and a Russian firm on an attempted procurement of ammonium nitrate in late 2013”.

A year later, Imad Khuri was designated for “materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of his brother”.

The revelations cast doubt over the final intended recipient of the chemicals that exploded in Beirut on August 4, killing more than 200 people, injuring thousands and destroying large parts of the capital.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who previously said the blast involved the detonation of 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, cast further suspicions over the investigation when he said late last year the FBI had found that less than a quarter of the chemicals claimed to have been responsible for the explosion at the port actually exploded. He later backtracked on his comment, saying it was based on unofficial reports.

Mr Diab was one of four senior officials charged with negligence by the judge investigating the blast.

His indictment fuelled political tension between President Michel Aoun, the country's highest-ranking official, and prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, who called the indictment an "attack" on the post of premier, a position reserved for Sunni Muslims under Lebanon's power-sharing system.

The investigation has since been suspended pending a ruling by the Supreme Court on a request from two of the four indicted officials that the case be transferred to a new judge.

This week, the Supreme Court gave the green light for the investigation to proceed but has yet to rule on the transfer case.

Five months after the explosion, it is unclear why the chemicals were held at Beirut port for so long, raising further suspicions that Lebanon was the actual destination of the cargo rather than Mozambique, the officially listed destination at the time.

This week, Interpol issued red notices for the Russian owner of the ship, and his compatriot, the captain who unloaded the ammonium nitrate stockpile at Beirut port, as well as a Portuguese trader who inspected the chemicals in Beirut in 2014.

The red notices were issued at the request of Lebanese State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Khoury, Lebanon's National News Agency reported on Tuesday.