(Israel Defense) The tremendous explosion in Beirut was preceded by six smaller explosions 11 seconds apart, according to seismological data collected by Israel's Tamar engineering group, which has for decades dealt with demolition and controlled explosions. While sensors in Israel clearly detected the tremors caused by the huge blast, the six others were discovered using CY603, a seismographic network of six sensors located in the sea between Cyprus and Lebanon, installed in the framework of IRIS, an international geological project for the prediction of earthquakes and the detection of weapons testing in the Mediterranean basin. Each of those six explosions was equivalent to several tons of explosives. The sixth explosion was several times bigger. According to Aharon (Arik) Goren, head of the Israeli Explosives Safety Center, "If there were really 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate at the port, as it was declared, it would have been equivalent to the power of about 850 tons of TNT...but that still isn't enough to explain the 43-meter-deep crater that was created....According to the accepted formulas, the crater should have been less deep. The unusual depth could be explained by...the explosion of weapons that weren't reported."
2020-08-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive