{"id":10794,"date":"2020-08-04T18:06:22","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T18:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=10794"},"modified":"2020-08-04T18:06:22","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T18:06:22","slug":"two-large-explosions-rip-through-beirut-ahead-of-hariri-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/04\/two-large-explosions-rip-through-beirut-ahead-of-hariri-verdict\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Large Explosions Rip Through Beirut Ahead Of Hariri Verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two large explosions ripped through Lebanon\u2019s capital Beirut on Tuesday at around 6 p.m. local time, causing widespread damage and hundreds of injuries, though the source of the blasts was not immediately clear<\/p>\n<h2>KEY FACTS<\/h2>\n<div>\n<p>Lebanon\u2019s National News Agency reported the explosions, which occurred near the city\u2019s main port area, may have started with a fire in a hangar storing fireworks.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A powerful blast shook the city, sending plumes of smoke into the sky and damaging buildings several hundreds of feet away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lebanon\u2019s health minister Hamad Hassan said the explosion has wounded hundreds.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Emergency workers are presently responding to the blasts and authorities <a title=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-53656220#:~:text=A%20large%20blast%20has%20hit,PM%20Rafik%20Hariri%20in%202005.&amp;text=A%20UN%20tribunal%20is%20due,by%20car%20bomb%20of%20Hariri.\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-53656220#:~:text=A%20large%20blast%20has%20hit,PM%20Rafik%20Hariri%20in%202005.&amp;text=A%20UN%20tribunal%20is%20due,by%20car%20bomb%20of%20Hariri.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-ga-track=\"ExternalLink:https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-53656220#:~:text=A%20large%20blast%20has%20hit,PM%20Rafik%20Hariri%20in%202005.&amp;text=A%20UN%20tribunal%20is%20due,by%20car%20bomb%20of%20Hariri.\" aria-label=\"fear\">fear<\/a> many casualties<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Locals are sharing pictures and videos of the city, filled with shattered glass and dust, on social media:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The explosion comes days before a UN tribunal was due to issue a verdict in the trial over the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Key Background<\/h2>\n<p>Four men are being tried over the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed Rafik al-Hariri and 21 others at The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, an international court jointly run by the United Nations and Lebanon. The four defendants are linked to Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, though Hezbollah denies involvement in Hariri\u2019s killing. The Friday verdict would be the first since the tribunal\u2019s creation in 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two large explosions ripped through Lebanon\u2019s capital Beirut on Tuesday at around 6 p.m. local time, causing widespread damage and hundreds of injuries, though the source of the blasts was not immediately clear KEY FACTS Lebanon\u2019s National News Agency reported the explosions, which occurred near the city\u2019s main port area, may have started with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Beirut-Explosion.jpg?fit=959%2C539&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}