UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that the international force does not hold any responsibility for the ammonium nitrate that exploded in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.
In an interview with the National News Agency (NNA) on Friday, Tenenti set the record straight, indirectly responding to accusations by former Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf.
In recent media interviews, Sarraf has stressed the responsibility of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force (MTF) for the entry of the Rhosus ship into the port of Beirut, claiming that it’s the job of the MTF to check any shipment. Sarraf also stated that there is a discrepancy between the MTF report on the nature of the ammonium nitrate transported by the ship and the report initially drawn up by the transport company, TGS Spectrum. In short, Sarraf accused the MTF of not doing its job on that day, an accusation Tenenti has denied.
The UNIFIL spokesperson highlighted that “Lebanon is a sovereign country, and as such only the Lebanese authorities can decide whether to carry out an inspection or allow a ship to dock at a Lebanese port.”
“The MTF supports the Lebanese Navy mainly by hailing ships entering Lebanese waters. Hailing is a process of contacting incoming ships to verify information that the ship has provided about itself and its cargo to public maritime databases. The Lebanese Navy also hails ships, as the role of the UNIFIL MTF is one of support,” Tenenti clarified.
“Further action might be needed after a ship is hailed, for example if some of the information is missing or doesn’t match what is listed in the public database, or if the ship does not appear on the list of vessels expected to transit, enter, or leave Lebanese territorial waters on a given day. In that case, ship may be referred to Lebanese authorities for inspection. Inspection and boarding could be carried out by the Lebanese Navy, other security agencies, or customs officials, but this is up to the Lebanese authorities to decide,” he noted.
“The MTF is ready to support in these tasks, but the Lebanese authorities have never asked and so the MTF has never physically inspected a ship. The MTF does receive some information about the results of any inspection but does not get information about the nature of any materials found unless there is a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701,” he added.
The official UNIFIL spokesperson elaborated that “the eventual goal under Resolution 1701 is that the Lebanese Navy will eventually be able to assume all responsibilities for maritime security on their own, without support from UNIFIL’s MTF. In 2022, the MTF handed over the Maritime Interdiction Operations Command to the Lebanese Navy, which now decides which ships should be referred to Lebanese authorities for inspection.”
“UNIFIL’s naval force celebrates the seventeenth anniversary of its establishment on October 15. Since 2006, it has been supporting its Lebanese maritime counterpart in several specific responsibilities, including monitoring Lebanese territorial waters, securing the coast and preventing unauthorized entry of weapons by sea,” Tenenti concluded.
The Rhosus, a dilapidated vessel containing hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate originally destined for Mozambique and carrying 2,750 bags of explosives led to the apocalyptic explosion of the port of Beirut in 2020 and resulted in the death of more than 200 people and injured 7,000 others, including more than 1,000 children.
Recently, Sarraf posted a document on his personal X account about the shipment of the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in warehouse number 12, on which the word Explosives is written and highlighted. “They were well aware that these were explosives; no one can deny it,” he said.
