Was Tunisia the source of ammonium and the winds of death?

A snippet of “Anwar” newspaper’s front page. It reads: The Ammonium gas that detonated in Beirut is from Tunisia?, Feb 26, 2021.

In a main news item presented by a Tunisian media agency, it suggested that the materials that caused the explosion at the Beirut port on the fourth of last August came from Tunisia.  Due to the disappearance of a very significant amount of "ammonium" from the chemical complex in the Governorate of Gabes (southern Tunisia) between 2013 and 2019, such a correlation can be built. The Tunisian weekly "Al-Anwar" newspaper stated, that the nature and quantity of explosive materials that blew up Beirut port and its surroundings, which is 2700 tons of "ammonium nitrate" composed of ammonia gas and acid nitrate, corresponds to the amount of "ammonium" that the 5,845 tons were lost from the chemical complex in Gabes. The facility’s managements denied such allegations, describing that the plant is well secure and guarded. In addition, the newspaper stated that a "strange explosion" occurred at the end of at the chemical complex plant in Gabes. It considered this explosion "and the accompanying conflict of facts disclosed between the factory management and the official authorities," confirms "the existence of an open agenda to defrost the factory with the aim of burying the imprint of its relationship to the Beirut bombing".

Whether all this is true or not, it remains to be seen. It will either be a step forward or clue to get the bottom of what really happened back in August, or it can be another attempt to disorient the investigation. Hopefully, the newspaper’s main story has no malicious intentions and the investigation can expedited; Lebanon can no longer waste time as according to the “Independent” newspaper, the country is on the edge of total collapse.

Communication and Public Relations Department