Tuesday’s deadly explosion in Beirut impacted every person in the Lebanese capital, senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane told “The Story” Tuesday.
“Hundreds have been killed and thousands have been wounded, and so many buildings in the area have been impacted by it, and when you look at the actual scene of it, it looks like massive physical destruction near the port area,” Keane told host Sandra Smith. “I think at this point, we are so early in this, I don’t think we truly know [the cause].”
Reuters, citing Lebanon’s health minister, reported that at least 78 people were killed in the explosion and nearly 4,000 others had been injured.
BEIRUT BLAST LIKELY ACCIDENTAL, BUT HEZBOLLAH ACTIVITIES AT PORT UNDER SCRUTINY
During a news conference Tuesday evening, President Trump suggested the explosion was caused by a bomb.
“This was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event,” the president said. “This seems to be, according to [U.S. military briefers], they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack, a bomb of some kind.”
According to Keane, top military officials in Lebanon have said the blast was likely caused by a large fire that ignited “thousands of tons” of ammonium nitrate.
“[Trump] obviously has considerably more information than all of us … but this much we know,” he said. “When we think about what the radicals do in reference to what their targets are, [they’re] usually very symbolic targets, targets that associate with people as opposed to a warehouse.
“We have horrible memories here, going back 40 years, [to] when the radicals blew up our Marine barracks –241 killed –our embassy, and then when we moved to the [embassy] annex, they blew that up as well,” he said.
“I think we just don’t have enough facts and forensic evidence to point out something in terms of whether it’s domestic terrorism or radical terrorism or maybe an accident.”
