Massive explosion rocks Beirut

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# pic.twitter.com/wCRR258wYY

- (@ShehabAgency) August 4, 2020

A massive explosion rocked Beirut today, obliterating much of a grain silo in the city's port district. The BBC reports that the blast came as locals awaited the verdict in a trial over the killing of ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. The cause of the blasts remains unclear; Video posted to Twitter by the Shehab news agency based in Palestine shows a column of smoke already rising from the building when the second and more destructive explosion occurs.

A UN tribunal is due to issue its verdict in the trial of four suspects in the murder by car bomb of Hariri.

All four are members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which has consistently denied any role in Hariri's death. The verdict is due on Friday.

The possible second explosion was reported to be at the Hariri residence in the city.

Lebanon's health minister has spoken of many injuries and extensive damage.

The building in the footage immediately by the explosion is the Harbor Grain Silo. Silo dust can be a spectacular explosive. This doesn't mean the explosion was an accident, but it suggests it was caused by the existing fire, itself reported as an explosion in some reports.

More footage from a different angle:

i thinks this is one of the scariest things I've seen in a while, can't possibly imagine how terrifying it is to be in Beirut right now pic.twitter.com/qLw1zkJWa1

- ivan (@ukrhoe) August 4, 2020

Below, a sugar silo explosion in Fort Wentworth, Ga., that killed 14 people.