Russia has provided the Lebanese side with satellite images taken on the day of the Beirut port explosion and hopes it will help investigate the incident, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday at a press conference following talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
"We considered the prospects for the possible participation of Russian economic operators in rebuilding the infrastructure that was destroyed by the August 4, 2020, bombing at the port of Beirut. At the request of the Lebanese government, today we handed over space imagery and satellite images prepared by Roscosmos," he said.
"We hope that they will help in the investigation of the causes of this incident. This issue now occupies very serious attention in Lebanon," the Minister stressed. Lavrov also expressed his hope that the truth on this issue will be established.
Earlier, Bou Habib announced that he planned to discuss the issue of providing Russia with satellite photos taken during the explosion in the sea port of Beirut, during his visit to Moscow.
Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said last week that the state corporation had prepared photos of the port of Beirut from space, even though it had not received an official request.
On August 4, 2020, there was an explosion at the seaport of the Lebanese capital with a yield of 1,500 tons in TNT equivalent. The explosion destroyed and damaged thousands of homes within and outside the city, killing 219 people, injuring 6.5 thousand, leaving more than 300,000 citizens homeless. According to the Lebanese Interior Ministry, the explosion occurred during welding works and was caused by a fire of over 2.7 thousand tons of ammonium nitrate, which was stored in a warehouse.
The Minister said he accepted an invitation from his Lebanese counterpart, Abdallah Bou Habib, to visit the republic.
"Mr. Minister kindly invited me to visit Lebanon. I gladly accepted the invitation," he said Monday at a press conference following talks with Bou Habib.
The Lebanese Foreign Minister is on a working visit to the Russian capital from November 20 to 23.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS