Lebanese survey devastation after massive Beirut explosion

Residents of Beirut awoke to a scene of utter devastation on Wednesday, a day after a massive explosion at the port sent shock waves across the Lebanese capital, killing dozens of people and wounding thousands.

Smoke was still rising from the port, where a towering grain silos had been shattered. Major downtown streets were littered with debris and damaged vehicles, and building facades were blown out. At hospitals across the city people had been waiting all night for news of loved ones who had gone missing or were wounded. Others posted requests for help online.

Authorities said Tuesday that at least 70 people were killed and 3,000 wounded, with the toll likely to rise as more bodies are being pulled from the rubble.

A drone picture shows the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

It was unclear what caused the blast, which appeared to have been triggered by a fire and struck with the force of an earthquake. It was the most powerful explosion ever seen in the city, which was on the front lines of the 1975-1990 civil war and has endured conflicts with neighboring Israel and periodic bombings and terror attacks.

“L’Apocalypse,” read the front page of Lebanon’s French L’Orient Le Jour newspaper. Another paper, al-Akhbar, had a photo of a destroyed port with the words: “The Great Collapse.”

Lebanon was already on the brink of collapse amid a severe economic crisis that has ignited mass protests in recent months. Its hospitals are confronting a surge in coronavirus cases, and there were concerns the virus could spread further as people flooded into hospitals.

A drone picture shows smoke from the scene of an explosion at the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi told a local TV station that it appeared the blast was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in a warehouse at the dock ever since it was confiscated from a cargo ship in 2014.

Witnesses reported seeing an orange cloud like that which appears when toxic nitrogen dioxide gas is released after an explosion involving nitrates.

Videos showed what looked like a fire erupting nearby just before, and local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved. The fire appeared to spread to a nearby building, triggering the explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and generating a shock wave.

In this drone picture, the destroyed silo sits in rubble and debris after an explosion at the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. The massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

“It was a real horror show. I haven’t seen anything like that since the days of the (civil) war,” said Marwan Ramadan, who was about 500 meters (yards) from the port and was knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion.

The blast destroyed numerous apartment buildings, potentially leaving large numbers of people homeless at a time when many Lebanese have lost their jobs and seen their savings evaporate because of a currency crisis. The explosion also raises concerns about how Lebanon will continue to import nearly all of its vital goods with its main port devastated.

There is also the issue of food security in Lebanon, a tiny country already hosting over 1 million Syrians amid that country’s yearslong war.

A drone picture shows the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

The port's major grain silo is run by the Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade. Drone footage shot Wednesday by The Associated Press showed that blast tore open those grain silos, dumping their contents into the debris and earth thrown up by the blast. Some 80% of Lebanon’s wheat supply is imported, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Estimates suggest some 85% of the country’s grain was stored at the now-destroyed silos.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency quoted the Raoul Nehme, the minister of economy and trade, as saying that all the wheat stored at the facility had been “contaminated” and couldn’t be used. However, he insisted Lebanon had enough wheat for its immediate needs.

In this drone picture, the destroyed silo sits in rubble and debris after an explosion at the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. The massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

Nehme said Lebanon also would import more wheat for its needs.

The tiny Mediterranean nation's economic crisis is rooted in decades of systemic corruption and poor governance by the political class that has ruled the country since the end of the civil war. Lebanese have held mass protests calling for sweeping political change since last autumn but few of their demands have been met as the economic situation has steadily worsened.

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

This drone pictures shows a destroyed events and exhibition hall near the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

This photo shows a general view of the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoBilal Hussein)

This drone picture shows a destroyed restaurant near the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

Men look at the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoBilal Hussein)

This photo shows a general view of the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoBilal Hussein)

In this drone picture, the destroyed silo sits in rubble and debris after an explosion at the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. The massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. (AP PhotoHussein Malla)

BEIRUT (AP) — French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné arrived in Lebanon on Sunday as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a de-escalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Séjourné met with United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon and with Lebanon's parliament speaker, army chief, foreign minister and caretaker prime minister.

France “is refusing to accept the worst-case scenario" of a full-scale war in Lebanon, he told journalists after the meetings.

“In southern Lebanon, the war is already here, even if it's not called by that name, and it’s the civilian population who’s paying the price,” he said.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily strikes with Israeli forces in the border region — and sometimes beyond — for almost seven months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. Strikes by Hezbollah have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers in Israel. Tens of thousands are displaced on each side of the border.

A French diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists said the purpose of Séjourné’s visit was to convey France’s “fears of a war on Lebanon” and to submit an amendment to a proposal Paris had previously presented to Lebanon for a diplomatic resolution to the border conflict.

Western diplomats have brought forward a series of proposals for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Most of those would hinge on Hezbollah moving its forces several kilometers (miles) from the border, a beefed-up Lebanese army presence and negotiations for Israeli forces to withdraw from disputed points along the border where Lebanon says Israel has been occupying small patches of Lebanese territory since it withdrew from the rest of south Lebanon in 2000.

The eventual goal is full implementation of a U.N. resolution that brought to an end a brutal monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

The previous French proposal would have involved Hezbollah withdrawing its forces 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.

Hezbollah has signaled willingness to entertain the proposals but has said there will be no deal in Lebanon before there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have said that a Gaza cease-fire does not automatically mean it will halt its strikes in Lebanon, even if Hezbollah does so.

Séjourné declined to provide more details about the latest version of France’s proposal ahead of his planned trip to Israel on Tuesday. He said he will have “consultations” with Israeli authorities to move toward an agreement.

The French foreign minister also pushed for the Lebanese political factions to come to an agreement on a candidate to fill a year-and-a-half-long presidential vacuum. Séjourné said that Lebanon needs a president in place in order to be “invited to the negotiating table” and to be able to implement any agreement that might be reached on the border issue.

During the talks, Lebanese officials also raised the issue of the ongoing presence of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which has become an increasingly contentious issue. Lebanese officials have increasingly called for Western countries to facilitate their return to Syria.

Séjourné acknowledged the burden placed on Lebanon by hosting such a large number of refugees, and said that "all concerned parties must work to make this return possible in a voluntary, dignified and safe manner in accordance with international law."

Associated Press writers Ali Sharaffedine in Beirut and Sylvie Corbett in Paris contributed to this report.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne adjusts his glasses as he listens to a question during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne adjusts his glasses as he listens to a question during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, left, meets with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, right, welcomes his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne, during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, center, meets with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, gestures after he shows a map that details Israel's strikes on Lebanon since Oct. 7, to visiting French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, shows a map that details Israel's strikes on Lebanon since Oct. 7, to visiting French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, shows a map that details Israel's strikes on Lebanon since Oct. 7, to visiting French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, left, speaks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during their meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)