Live from moscow this is R T International just after 11 pm here the same time where we start our breaking news this hour from im not beirut where a devastating explosion hit the capital of lebanon government officials are saying least 50 people are dead more than 2700. 00 more injured the blast went off in the citys port area destroying buildings within a large radius the coals is so far clear its believed to have set off fuel tanks causing a 2nd reply and a huge fire. Ive got. One more one more. Well we can go live now to beirut and speak to journalist commands in the capital levanon we spoke a little bit earlier ill tell if you broke done for us some of the main reasons what was happening there the aftermath as well just remind us on the Current Situation on tickets through walkup in there. Well right now we are standing at the symbolic Martyrs Square in the heart of the lebanese capital beirut we are just a couple blocks away from the Lebanese Parliament this here. Place or venue has been seen so a lot of proreform demonstrations in the past couple months luckily today we had no protests calling for reform or else it would have been a bloodbath over here as you can see in the background there are still tens of ambulances rushing to the scene the number of marchers or those who have been killed in the very tragic explosion which trip through beirut today has risen to 50 as the number of wounded has also is also nearing up to 3000. 00 the devastation here in the lebanese capital is very massive it is being estimated by tens of millions of dollars as you said earlier the blasko was charles 10 kilometers away from the port where it took place also the lebanese Prime Minister mr has spoken earlier tonight that he has vowed to the lebanese people and that this tragedy will not go on punished that investigations will be carried out the probe will be carried out to find out who was short coming. Were behind this very tragic incident which has harvested cans of lebanese lives in the past but that thousands of others now an International Outcry and International Support and solidarity are pouring on to lebanon starting from russia russian president mr blodgett mir putin was one of the 1st to office condolences to begun with and extend his hand in assistance also 6 britain france arab countries g. C. C. Country is the arab league. All of the countries in the region are also expressing their solidarity with love but not they are also sending aid to lebanon as we said also a lot of the hospitals here in the lebanese capital have announced that they can no longer accept for more good as they are also still again for their more rushing to the scene of the explosion still the fire is being extinguished by Fire Fighters i dont think this is i believe this is going to be a sleepless night for the lebanese and a very sad night on social media a lot of lebanese are ferrying to the incident unfortunately there for and through at the. Of course theres no comparison between a nuclear bomb and whats happened today but it only shows how deeply impacted and how saddened they are and how devastating this explosion has been on not been on and on the lebanese who are already grappling with very bad Economic Situation but 19 proreform demonstrations or demonstrations asking to eliminate corruption from the power sharing system prevailing in the country the list goes on so this just adds further hurt and injury and tragedy to the lebanese people as youre saying the fire is ongoing. Really going to have sense of what is happening there with our own balances going on behind you to get to the scene there is already tragically high numbers dead 50 people dead last come from the authorities but as you say with close to 3000 people injured. Is the is the fact here is the reality is that those numbers are going to be much higher tragically. You can hear me out of. Ok we just lost connection there with a local journalist on the ground but all tough medals are really giving us really a sense of what was happening there telling us about the fire. After one of the blasts after the initial explosion is still on going the plumes of smoke as you can see here at the trying to get to that region trying to get to that area to really cut that off and. Get it get control as we approach. What is it 5 minutes past 11 pm there as the correspondent was saying there its going to be looking like a sleepless night for all those emergency crews as they deal with the huge devastation that the blast has brought to the lebanese capital another journalist in the region who spoke to me earlier it was d all in holiday he is in beirut describing to us what he saw on the. In the bomb drops from your stomach i hate to break down completely oh its logical to be everything we. See in the world its like making up the roads taking thats a good amount of people been injured. Down suited me she happened to build the infrastructure in the whole area the devastated. Shops around you been completely destroyed you see behind me. That in terms of the problems of lebanon the speccy prior to the destruction of the ticket was very much a strain from the ongoing and epidemic condemning this country the area that im in. Taking a lot of the images that it was not the right its been easy very very nicely and difficult very very. Cross back to our middle east correspondent paula slayer intel of the truly devastating day for lebanon. Truly devastating and as you say the latest figures we have us. Even from the Health Ministry 50 people are confirmed dead and some 2700 are injured but those figures are expected to climb people are still trapped in the rubble emergency workers are desperately trying to get to them hospitals are full theyre turning back people theyre treating people on the pavements in front of the hospital so total chaos at the hospitals at this moment we are hearing from eyewitnesses that the scene is being referred to as a disaster area we have heard also that the scale of the damage is enormous to give you an indication they are the ports that the sound of the blast was heard as far afield as cyprus which is 234 kilometers away seismologists have said it was of a 4. 5 magnitude so unprecedented scale and unprecedented damage because lost in lebanons history this is what one of the eyewitnesses told us. I saw something flash and i couldnt hear any more i looked at the taxi driver i wanted to make sure that he was having the same experience excuse in the same thing as me so what you saw there is there something wrong with me he stopped the car you look back at me and then suddenly we heard very loud explosion the glass shattered all over the car the cars around us the buildings all the glass just run down it was raining glass all over the city of beirut. Now the cause of the explosion the mains unknown and investigation has been enormous but we are hearing from the interior ministry not to speculate that its necessary to wait for those for that official investigation and its results to come out there is speculation however that the 1st explosion was caused by any electrical spock were hearing that it was caused by nitrates that a warehouse where highly explosive materials were housed was the cause of the 1st blast and then those initial explosions may have saved earth fuel tanks that caused the secondary explosion to take. We need to wait for an official investigation to get clarification on that now this comes as the Prime Minister has valve revealed and she has said that a probe will be carried out to find out how this was possible and who if anyone was responsible it comes as both israel and hezbollah deny involvement this is what the Prime Minister had to say. We will reveal everything regarding this dangerous warehouse which has been there since 214. 00 and those responsible for the explosion in beirut. Now jordan is sending a plane at the same time israel has offered assistance through mediators and no doubt we will see more countries coming on board to try and assist in this terrible disaster youre speaking to us from tel aviv israels president. Expressed his condolences and the Defense Ministry is offering humanitarian medical assistance can you tell us how this situation is being viewed from the israeli perspective. When initially it was speculation as to whether or not israel could be responsible then certain on social media there was some post suggesting that israel was behind it this is because in recent days there has been a flare up in violence along israels northern border with lebanon particularly between israel and hezbollah involved in a tit for tat as it is there always tensions between the sides but the tensions increased to such a degree these last few days that people were talking about whether or not there would be a full scale confrontation and the israeli army went on high alert along the northern border so thats why there was the speculation that israel could be behind this attack but as i say the official word or at least from israeli officials is that they havent been involved in the israeli president has expressed his condolences having said all of that its late in the hour here in israel so its difficult to gauge the israeli. The publics response but no doubt there will be a lot of feeling of sadness and horror as the casualty count emerges from lebanon this seems to be a human tragedy that will touch people the goddess and wherever they are our middle east bureau chief polis lior thank you. So lets get some insight into these tragic developments in lebanon im happy to see Jonathan Steele on the program jonathan is an International Affairs commentator good to have you jonathan of course as we were going through with our correspondent there we still dont know if this was an attack or an accident the government sees there were exposed have stored in the area and that is why this occurred your initial thoughts on the situation. Well it does sound like more like an. Accident attack tragic accident so let any kind of attack or terroristic your such number target really was a political agenda the governor very rich is quoted as saying that there are firemen were on the scene already before the explosion putting out a fire so its quite possible that inadvertently very touched off the somali nitrate which was being stored you know warehouse which Companies Officials have also said it was a dodgy warehouse been reported as a highly hazardous origin 2040 sort of route it looks as though he could have been an accident caused initially virus or some incompetence. Of the last few years just to pick up on water a correspondent in tel aviv was telling us israel has offered medical monetary and aid to lebanon and a lot of strained relations between those 2 nations in in recent down indeed further back time what response do you expect from the government in beirut to the. Well israel has said it will grow through 3rd parties because. Its unlikely that there would be any direct contact between lebanese government or the new Israeli Government because they have no relations so very very hostile and confrontational relations so to write a song throwing a party might come forward but i think there are enough offers coming from around the world and already for the lebanese not to rush to take anything from israel to stage we know that president michel aoun has convened an emergency meeting of the Supreme Defense Council just bearing that in mind do you expect some kind of tough Security Response given that a lot of soldiers are already on the streets surrounding that region. I dont think so i mean im sure theres clarification as to what the cause was it would be foolish for anybody to take serious political steps in retaliation or revenge so i think well have to wait for the investigation it may take some time to tell because theres so much damage around into the buildings where these warehouse. Nitrate was stored is obviously completely damaged so itll be very hard to find out exactly what happened and investigation obviously has to proceed there has been severe on rest the country is on the brink economically youve got a devalued currency jonathan soaring food prices adding in coronavirus as well of course this could this tragedy be a Tipping Point for the country. Well i think its just well were in for severe among or near lebanese and theyre going through a very very bad patch now im innocent only of the civil war exists for 5 decades ago. Until maybe 3 or 4 years ago lebanon was doing rather well out of here in france of Syrian Refugees refugees in syria and it was in spite of that managing to survive economically and provide enough food for everybody but now its the currency collapsing to 8 percent in the last 10 months with food imports becoming too expensive for most people most families to afford those real crisis for everybody. In the sense that lebanon was some kind of races from the middle east to stability in car and relative phonology and has now been shattered and this is just you know putting the final touches to this terrible new image of lebanese they have of learned country with the disease did you mention of course current virus and the economic downturn and political hassling going on about corruption and the incompetence of politicians the rest of them for 3040 years not any real change of generation doesnt this some lines coming into us that isis has claimed responsibility at the best the thais we have to take such things with a pinch of salt but. If this does turn out to be the case what would that be a major shock to you if they were able to carry out such an attack on lebanese soil and they did that. Well i i think its just hard to recall opportunistic bursting i mean in the chances that isis is actually done this very very dramatic and as you say would show a kind of degree of skill that they dont really pursue. Yes so i think its just opportunistic highly cynical move to come in. A major on the middle east a dog where you aware of cells possibly being in on. Lebanese soil in fall of in terrorism like that before. Not only are says. Its not been measured phenomenon only a little bit on the borders between syria and certain has now been some. Extreme sunni groups need to go not identified close years isis so i think it is as i said to already produced a. Very cynical kind i asked is can i just expounded in one. Allegation that was made in the immediate aftermath of todays. Attack or whatever it turns out to be an accident hezbollah was. Named as a possible. Attacker but what why or what they involve themselves in such an attack against the lebanese government gets the lebanese people people of course would be working there is that something that is a possibility or why were these allegations made against hezbollah in the 1st place do you think. You know i think its highly unlikely dont have anything to do with me has to or is part of the lebanese government ministers in the lebanese government so they dont want to sabotage something original themselves apart and i think its just speculation by people who are critics of hezbollah to say it was very could be involved i dont think theres any like you know theres not a true thats thats just my point why why would they be making allegations like that if it was so against the grain of what they would do that oh. Well i dont know who these people are american. Allegations i mean run from truly know people of irresponsible nature it went over the political spectrum in lebanon ok and collapse some kind of evidence before they can just put out these allegations yeah i just wanted to get your take because there was a lot of early reports about it and it didnt seem to make sense but it kept getting reported and reported this also comes out of him before. The verdict to be announced in the murder trial of former Prime Minister rafik hariri a believe thats on friday friday. Thats going to add another dimension to this is. A really strained country well im glad you mentioned that because i think that maybe one reason why people responsibly are pointing the finger that has been has been briefed on the behind this terrible explosion because it is for hezbollah. Activists or operatives who are on trial in the netherlands for the murder of roughly come here in 2005 which ironically he was killed not that far away from where this explosion happened today so there is some kind they think its more of a carry incidence and planned. Sort of just what operatives are on trial but not on trial in absentia not in lessons and not under arrest in iran nobody knows in fact where they are so that even if they are convicted on friday there will be no sentencing no punishment and no locking up of the people if they are guilty yet and they will be entitled to appeal under the lord to set up this cult special court in lebanon and you have a right to appeal jonathan thank you as always for sharing your thoughts with us and give us your expertise in an area you know well Jonathan SteeleInternational Affairs commentator thank you. Well lets just expound. News one of the questions we put the jonathan there are thoughts on confirm reports are stating that the terrorist Group Islamic state claimed responsibility for the explosion in roots partly is coming from online propaganda counseling to the terror group were waiting for further details we do know in the past that they have been linked. Not being able to verify previous attacks so anything to do with this we will of course bring it to you lets recap to the situation in the lebanese capital at least 63 people have died in a devastating explosion in beirut more than 3000. 00 are injured according to the Health Ministry that number going up seemingly every forest so 3000. 00 plus injured the hospitals at full capacity as well lebanese interior minister says the exclusion appears that being caused by huge stockpile of Ammonium Nitrate in the port area we should stress that it is still unclear whether the blast was an accident or deliberate the army we do know has taken control of all districts near the port of a very sizable military. Presence a run this blast you can just see the migrant chewed up at all our screens right hundreds of meters up into the sky helicopters coming in with water trying to put out fires that are local journalists were saying are still on going many other fires around the city of course breaking on its because of the initial blast both israel and the Lebanese Group hezbollah denied any involvement israels defense minister in fact offering humanitarian and medical assistance to lebanon lebanon may take that up through a 3rd party or a guest was saying but many other countries including russia have also. Been stressing about the are able to help with humanitarian issues as well just on what occurred though the explosion was reportedly followed by a 2nd blast when a fuel depo caught fire causing a must of blaze the blast destroyed buildings over a wide area and we should stress as well this is almost in the city center just north of the city center kilometer or so at the docks the shock waves really could be felt hundreds of kilometers away in cyprus across the maid broken windows 1015 kilometers away at the International Airport in the south of the city must of smoke just covering all over the city as well its going to be a must of clear up and its going to let you can imagine many many days until things are put back to normal in the region several hospitals severely damaged as well reportedly unable to take patients were hearing that in fact some patients even though its nighttime not just coming up to half past 11 being treated side because hospitals clinics were really at full capacity because of coronavirus at this is not to their work to the numbers to the ranks their coats and street rallies by the way just to give you some background to what is a troubled city over the past few weeks against the governments handling of the worst economic slump since the 2nd civil war there which ended 3 decades ago theres also been a recent escalation on the border with israel which is accused hezbollah fighters of trying to infiltrate is really territory on top of all about there is the upcoming verdict in a trial over the assassination of former Prime Minister rafik hariri who was killed in a car bombing in 2005 a u. N. Tribunal. For addict on friday so that is the very latest on what we know about what is occurring in the city but im happy. Say that we can get further reaction lets speak to joe joe is beiruts resident joins us live on the program joe good to see you give us a sense of where you are 1st of whats been happening in your area. Just outside. The 1st felt. Ok a little bit of a small green connection there and then it came the big ok go ahead joe yeah lets just see if we can hear you one last time go ahead. You know unfortunately we cant get connection there were a local resident who was just up by to tell us where he was and what he experienced there in the lebanese capital. Ok were going to take a short break on the program as we said more of guests who flee in the area and more expertise as well to make sense and give us an overview walked curd today in a route youre watching r. T. International live from the. Very exciting im excited i know youre excited i know states is. 54 jets and more than 1300 military personnel are headed to air force base in alaska where is that to say come on ill show you whats the reason for any type of enhanced u. S. Military presence in this area russia. What is it suddenly about the South China Sea that makes it so that it 11000000000 barrels of oil. Take a look at this map who really owns what kind of says no it belongs to us india says no we claim that that belongs to us both of these countries have Nuclear Weapons capabilities there is reason for concern so thats why were going to drill down on this story for you today right here on the news with rick sanchez where you know as we always like to say we do believe by golly its time to do news again. I know no. No shots. Actually you. Know most of. Which your thirst for action. Youre back with R T International just coming up to 29 minutes past 11 pm here in moscow just one story today and that is our breaking news a devastating explosion has hit lebanons capital beirut government officials are saying at least 63 people are dead but more than 3000 feared injured so the fatality number is expected to rise we go in through the night here pictures here of the hospitals just see the blood on the floors already struggling Health Care System in lebanon deals with the aftermath of whats occurred the blast went off in the citys ports area destroying buildings within a large radius the cause at this stage is its believed to have set up fuel tanks causing a 2nd. A huge fire. Well we are awaiting more information from the government but what occurred outside what the authorities are saying was a where hoists explosion there on further blasts coming from not including fires which have been struggling to be still being put right we spoke to freelance journalist holed away in roots he described to us what he saw and experienced