Family members carry the portraits of the victims of 2020 Beirut port blast as they gather around the marble memorial engraved with the names of the victims near the blast's ground zero on the sixth anniversary of the explosion, in Beirut on August 4, 2026. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
There are some matters that end up embodying the destiny of a country. For the Lebanese, ammonium nitrate is no longer just a chemical compound. It has become the common thread of our collective downfall. Six years ago, it pulverized Beirut. Today, it pulverizes villages in the South. Between these two tragedies, it changed places, hands, and context. But it always tells the same story: that of a state that has too often given up on protecting its own.Fate has shown almost unbearable cynicism. For six years, nitrate remained linked to the images of Aug. 4: a port blown apart, a capital disfigured, families snatched from their daily lives in an instant. It embodied the ultimate scandal of an explosive abandoned for years in the heart of a city, despite warnings, despite reports, despite the certainty of the danger.Now it reappears in the...
There are some matters that end up embodying the destiny of a country. For the Lebanese, ammonium nitrate is no longer just a chemical compound. It has become the common thread of our collective downfall. Six years ago, it pulverized Beirut. Today, it pulverizes villages in the South. Between these two tragedies, it changed places, hands, and context. But it always tells the same story: that of a state that has too often given up on protecting its own.Fate has shown almost unbearable cynicism. For six years, nitrate remained linked to the images of Aug. 4: a port blown apart, a capital disfigured, families snatched from their daily lives in an instant. It embodied the ultimate scandal of an explosive abandoned for years in the heart of a city, despite warnings, despite reports, despite the certainty of the danger.Now it reappears in...
