He has access to some of the best intelligence gathering on the planet.... and still goes *could* have been? also everything seems to point to it not being so.

Yeah they confiscated it, forgot about it (i suspect the plan was to move it afterwards to a more secure area, more remote area).
Turns out, forgetting about a highly unstable combustable compound, isnt a great idea (esp when your storeing so much of it).

The real worry isn't even the 100 dead and the 4000 wounded.
Its the impact this will have on their economy (which was already about to collapse), and how important that port area is for them.

Maybe it was stored at the port because it was about to be shipped? Why else do you think it was there?

And maybe there is a residential area because people tend to settle near ports? Have you looked at the blast? For it not to hit any residential area it would have to be built 10km outside of town but that's not really how city planning works.

There is probably plenty of blame to go around but please stay realistic here.

Edit: If it really has been left there for years that's certainly negligent. Though let's be honest, there really is no real safe place to store something like that.

Supposedly it was 6-7 years, its just been stored there.
They should have moved it, somewhere more remote, and safer, and away from a important area for their economy.

There is, you can find area's were even if it does explode, it doesnt wound or kill anyone.
Also it took out a entire port area, which they are dependent on, for their economy to work (which was already failing).

Its basically the worst handling of a such compounds you can imagine, next to it being placed in a houseing area with high density populations.
I guess it would be worse if it killed like 20,000 people or such. However from the positioning of those in power, the economical impact now, is probably worse for them than such a situation would have been.

maybe it was sent to the port recently to get shipped, or maybe recently docked there and stored.  Maybe an undercover sabotaged/set it off, maybe timed bomb, no one knows..

Maybe you should stop inventing "facts"?

Look, that stuff was confiscated 7 years ago and put into a storage place large enough to hold it (which happens to be within the harbour area, no surprise there). How much of it has remained in storage is up to anyone's guess (it makes for great bombs and there are quite a few groups that do that as a habit in that area of the world). It doesn't help that the whole Lebanon has become a place of warmongering, and in everyone's mind it's Allah's will anyway if that stuff blows up or not one day, so noone cared.

Eveybody has known for years that it's going to blow up eventually, piecewise or in one blow. The big rubble pile still standing you see in pictures are/were the countrie's whole grain reserves, so expect a massive famine in a few weeks.

Supposedly, the goverment marked that area, as where such materials should be.
So right next door, there was a fireworks factory.

Sounds smart right? what are the chances that theres a fireworks misshap, that ignites all that Ammonium Nitrate kept next door?

This wasnt sabotage, or a terrorist attack.

Just a unlucky accident, and bad planning by their leaders.


"maybe it was sent to the port recently to get shipped, or maybe recently docked there and stored."

They confiscated it, like 7years ago, because they feared if they didnt, it might end up in the hands of terrorists.
So instead they took it, stored it.  It wasn't resently, it was more like they just forgot about it, for along time.

The plan couldn't have been to just keep it there, but... sometimes leadership dont follow up or do the right thing.
Sh*t happends.

Holy f***, so not only does this cripple their already almost failed economy.
This might result in famine as well.

Ever think about what could be stored in the ports in your own country, or how old that nuclear power plant is close to the city, or what gets transported on those long freight trains with hundred tanker cars... Regulations are one thing, human error and letting things sit is another.

Afaik this happened in a private dock of Monsanto

Bayer now owns that shit company so it is on them now.  I'm sure they'll have this in litigation for next 40 years.