Lebanese President Michel Aoun has asked Russian Ambassador Alexander Rudakov for satellite images from Aug. 4, 2020, when a huge explosion rocked Beirut's port, according to a Lebanese presidency tweet on Friday. The blast killed more than 215 people, injured thousands, and destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital.
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The lead investigator of the probe into the explosion, Judge Tarek Bitar, in May asked a number of countries for imagery, according to the Lebanese National News Agency. It did not name the countries. Top politicians, including Aoun, have repeatedly lamented a lack of cooperation from countries with requests to provide satellite pictures from the day of the blast.
The probe into the blast, one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, is stalling amid a smear campaign against Bitar and pushback from powerful factions. Potential foreign aid donors have called for a transparent investigation into the blast, which was triggered by a huge quantity of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate.
