Beirut blast: 5 years on, Bulgaria arrest marks breakthrough in renewed probe

Beirut blast: 5 years on, Bulgaria arrest marks breakthrough in renewed probe

Bulgarian police have arrested the owner of a ship tied to the 2020 Beirut port blast as the resumed investigation progresses.

Beatrice Farhat

Sep 16, 2025
Beirut port
This aerial view shows a capsized ship and smoke rising from the heavily damaged grain silos in Beirut's blast-hit port on July 29, 2022. — AFP via Getty Images

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BEIRUT — Bulgarian authorities confirmed on Tuesday that the owner of a vessel suspected of importing the explosive material that caused the massive 2020 Beirut port blast has been arrested, a significant development in the investigation that resumed earlier this year.

What happened: Igor Grechushkin, a 48-year-old dual Russian-Cypriot citizen wanted by Interpol, was detained at Sofia Airport on Sept. 5 upon arriving from the Cypriot city of Paphos, Bulgarian outlets reported, citing the country’s chief of border police.

Chief Inspector Zdravko Samuilov told Bulgarian news agency BTA that Grechushkin did not resist arrest and nothing suspicious was found in his luggage.

He was placed in custody for up to 40 days on an order from the Sofia Court of Appeal, Bulgaria’s top prosecutor said in a press release issued Tuesday.

During this period, Lebanese authorities must issue the Bulgarian Supreme Court a request for Grechushkin’s extradition to Lebanon, where he is wanted for his role in the massive explosion.

The blast at the Beirut port in August 2020 was caused by a fire at a warehouse where nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate had been improperly stored since 2014. The explosion, one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, sent a mushroom cloud towering over Beirut and ravaged entire neighborhoods, killing more than 220 people and injuring thousands of others.

Background: Grechushkin is the suspected owner of Rhosus, the ship that transported 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a volatile chemical commonly used in fertilizers, to the port of Beirut in November 2013.

The Moldov...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
Content Warning: None

Hadi Wahab says that Hezbollah has a network of spies and traitors working inside it that helped kill Hassan Nasrallah. He says that Hassan Alla2 is the head of this network and is a traitor in Hezbollah

Post Author: /u/DoughnutHumble4335
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The wicked evil Zionist enemy keeps coming in to Lebanon on ATVs to rig civilian homes and detonate them - A violation of international law and Lebanon’s sovereignty

From Mais Al-Jabal, photojournalist and VPol contributor Courtney Bonneau (@courtneybonneauimages ) reports on Israel’s ongoing ethn-c cle-nsing of border villages in South Lebanon.
￭ Standing near the Blue Line with an IOF base behind her, she explains how Israeli occupation forces entered on ATVs, rigged a home with C4, and detonated it, leaving some explo-ives behind.
￭ The Lebanese army is now clearing the site, dismantling b-mbs and m-nes.
￭ Bonneau notes this is yet another violation of Lebanese sovereignty and questions how the IOF is allowed to cross the border to demolish civilian homes.

Source: https://x.com/vocalpolitics1/status/1966512125209362899?s=46
Post Author: /u/AbuElKess
Content Warning: None

Wait till people realize that hezbollah launching this war, wasn’t even what Shiites were ever ordered to do; true shii teachings call for patience, neutrality, and defensive-only action until the return of the Imam.

Hezbollah’s military interventions illustrate the exact opposite of the classical Shii principle of neutrality and defensive only warfare. According to the teachings cited from al-Kāfī and Shaykh al-Mufīd, Shiaa are completely forbidden from initiating offensive military action without the guidance of the infallible Imam, and fighting is only permissible in self-defense. Yet Hezbollah has repeatedly launched attacks against Israel in response to events affecting Palestinians, often framing these actions as religiously justified resistance. From a classical Shii perspective, such unilateral offensives even when motivated by solidarity or moral outrage violate the injunction: «كُلُّ رَايَةٍ تُرْفَعُ قَبْلَ قِيَامِ الْقَائِمِ فَصَاحِبُهَا طَاغُوتٌ يُعْبَدُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ» and «لَيْسَ لِلشِّيعَةِ أَنْ يُقَاتِلُوا … إِلَّا أَنْ يُدْفَعَ عَنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَوْ عَنْ حُرُمَاتِهِمْ»
Post Author: /u/darkmz7
Content Warning: None

Charlie Kirk = Hasan Nasrallah

I'm sure this post is gonna get a lot of grief but bear with me a second before you bash me. I don't mean it to offend MAGA types or Hizballah sympathizers that each regarded the man in question as righteous. Look at it factually, aside from the fact that HN was actually a political, military & clerical leader and CK was just a commentator, both are polarizing figures. One thing they both had in common was the fiery rhetoric and uncompromising stances on issues. At the same time they each had a huge following and perpetuated hate whether it was justified or not, I am not willing to debate that but you can argue they both had that sway with their followers. Now I don't condone violence or assassinations but in some ways I think the world is a better place without these guys. I get it that they were revered by many but at the same time I am more for reconciliation and tolerance, not traits ever exhibited by these 2 men. Sure everyone is free to think as they'd like but its dangerous when you have someone in high standing when their negative ideas are contagious.
Post Author: /u/WaffleNebula42
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Time Is Running Out for Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah, U.S. Officials Warn https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/politics/lebanon-hezbollah-disarm.html

My point of sharing this news article is not talk about hezb's weapons or anything, but one paragraph from New York Times, supposedly a reputable newspaper, showcasing that the U.S knows nothing about the complexities of Lebanon, or deliberately twists realities to suit its agendas. It reads:

With its combustible mix of religious and ethnic tensions and sensitive border with Israel, Lebanon has confounded American presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower deployed 14,000 American troops there to thwart a feared communist takeover

Now i know what result of that back then was probably the best outcome (if you disregard the civil war later on), but to say the capitalistic big guy, amrika, came in to save us from communism is plain stupidity and just a showmanship act to justify current american involvment in Lebanese affairs.
Post Author: /u/g_d_losPH
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Why is Parking so Ridiculous in this country?

Is there anywhere you want to drive to ever a sane experience? Unless its a mall or a supermarket with its own parking lot like some Spinney's. But other things like fast casual places to grab a sandwich or lunch or even the bank, you have to take double parking to be the norm or even feel lucky that you could still double park and not block traffic, wouslit la hal daraje!! On top of that many places would install parking guards to manage the parking. Why are they always sooo aggressive? the guy would rudely open your car's door as if you can't open it yourself and then you have to rush gathering your belongings before exiting the car. I dunno why they do that, to justify giving them a tip after leaving the place? No thanks, I didn't need your help sir, I could have parked myself.
Post Author: /u/WaffleNebula42
Content Warning: None

Does anyone know what's the endgame of hezb here??

I'm against both hezb and israel and support Palestine, but what the fuck is hezb's endgame here?

After October 7, hezb on October 8 was the one who started poking israel not the other way around, against the Lebanon's wishes. It escalated and dragged Lebanon into a one sided war, they bought pagers from the terrorist enemy which lead to a huge terrorist attack against them, turns out they have moles that helped bomb every important member. They were barely able to stop the land invasion. When things went south for them they ran to the government for help to stop the war that they started and then refuse to abide with the agreement.

The end result:
- they became much weaker
- established their weapons are as good as a slingshot.
- established they are dumber than a rock they bought Booby trapped pagers.
- they are infested with israeli moles.
- New President and prime minister.
- Hezb put the government in a corner to be America's and Israel's bitch to get out of the mess they started.
- Hezb threatening a civil war cause they chickened out of disarming and they claim these weapons are for our protection.
- Israel occupies 5 points of lebanon now.
- the south's lands and landmarks almost annihilated.
- Hezb twist facts to justify their failure as a success and justify their existence.

Everything they did doesn't benefit them at ALL. It slightly benefited lebanon, but by far the biggest benefiter here is israel, they now have soldiers on OUR LAND and hezb gave them a reason to BOMB parts of lebanon. Any sane person looking at these fact would find that hezb needs to go, it's a threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty and unironically can be called "Sahayne" and "bala sharaf" the words they like to throw around whenever someone disagrees with them.

Also the only way to liberate palestine through war is by having every Arab country against them with good arsenal and planning, not some measily iran backed terrorist militia, that mistakenly buys pagers from the enemy. Until that happens the only way for lebanon to help ...
Post Author: /u/Khorya
Content Warning: None

My Ranking of Safe of Arab Countries

I have been to many countries in the Middle East and North African region as a Lebanese American. My list is based on tourist places and walking around (obviously not going to militia and ghetto areas), as well as personal stories from other backpackers. This is my true ranking as a tourist :

1) Oman
2) Saudi / Qatar / Kuwait / Bahrain / UAE
(^these are all the same oil slave country imo)
3) Jordan
4) Lebanon
5) Tunisia
6) Morocco
7) Egypt
8) Syria

I have not yet been to:
Iraq / Libya / Algeria / Yemen
Post Author: /u/sultanslime
Content Warning: None

Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture cannabis draft 2 ‎ من نبتة منسيّة إلى مشروع وطني يُجسّد الشفاء، والاستدامة، والاقتصاد الأخضر…

Description

cannabis draft 2 h

Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture
2
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Jul 17
2025

وزارة_الزراعة

القنب الطبّي كنموذج للزراعة المستدامة: #وزارة_الزراعة تتقدّم نحو الاقتصاد الحيوي الأخضر"
من نبتة منسيّة إلى مشروع وطني يُجسّد الشفاء، والاستدامة، والاقتصاد الأخضر…
رحلة يقودها لبنان بخطى واثقة، برعاية دولة الرئيس الدكتور نواف سلام، وبقيادة وزارة الزراعة ومعالي الوزير الدكتور نزار هاني

الزراعة_نبض_الارض_والحياة

القنب_الطبّي

لبنان_يختار_المستقبل

📽️ شاهدوا الآن كيف تتحوّل الزراعة إلى مستقبل أفضل، مبني على الثقة، والعِلم، والسيادة الوطنية.
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
Content Warning: None

Abandoned Lebanon by James Kerwin

Introduction

Back in 2016, I came across an article which marked the ten-year anniversary of the end of the 2006 Lebanon war by asking eighteen of their photographers to reflect on the images they had taken. The result was brilliant and touching, and subsequently inspired me to research and visit Lebanon myself. In 2019, I was at last able to set foot in the country of which I had been dreaming and which I had been frantically investigating for three years. I realised then how fast Lebanon was changing, and would change again – a feeling that was later confirmed by my second trip in 2021. This is why I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to capture even a few of the wonders Lebanon hosts, hoping they will remain standing and even be restored in the future.

Nestled against the Mediterranean Sea and flanked by Syria to the north and east, with Israel to the south, the land now known as Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries, before coming under French rule after World War I. Lebanon gained independence from France in 1943, but the Allies occupied the region until the very end of World War II. Lebanon’s history since its independence has been marked by alternating periods of turmoil, and political stability and prosperity, the latter being built on Beirut’s position as a regional centre for finance, business, and trade.

Not long after World War II, in 1947 another war broke out, this time with Israel. The Palestine War (or the War of Independence) has left many scars which can still be seen across the country today. An estimated 100,000 Palestinians fled to Lebanon during the war with Israel, and were not permitted to return after the ceasefire in 1949. As of 2019 there are still an estimated 175,000 to 450,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, with at least half still in decades-old refugee camps which nowadays resemble permanent settlements and neighbourhoods.

During the 1960s, Lebanon was relatively calm. During this time Beirut even earned the nickname “the Paris of the...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
Content Warning: None

Algerian Ambassador in Lebanon meets with Rita Hayek, then deletes photos

Hi everyone, Recently, the Algerian Ambassador in Lebanon met with Lebanese actress Rita Hayek. Photos of the meeting were shared on the Ambassador's official page but were later deleted.

Not sure why they were removed, but I thought it was interesting to share here.
Post Author: /u/icantchooseanymore
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Can someone fill me in on the whole “we are not arab” debate?

So im new to this topic and im lebanese and almost fully Lebanese as my dna test show 92% genes from ancient Saida, Byblos (Baalbak), and Tyre (soor). I have always identified as arab and recently someone started yelling at me and saying “NO NEHNA PHOENICIANS” and apparently they told me im not a real lebanese person and i am just an arab invader which contracticts my dna test so?
I just have never heard of this issue until now. Like we speak arabic, are we not Arabs? 😭

Im proud of my lebanese heritage and idk why i can’t identify as arab or else ill be told im not a real lebanese person

Whats this all about?
Post Author: /u/JigglyOnion
Content Warning: None

I’m Maria Nehme, General Manager of OLX Lebanon - Ask Me Anything (Tue Aug 19 @ 4 PM Beirut time)

Hi r/Lebanon! I’m **Maria Nehme**, General Manager of **OLX Lebanon**.

**What I’m here for:** rebrand & recent changes, search and discovery, listings quality & moderation, pricing/promotions, trust & safety, delivery/fulfillment options, and the overall classifieds ecosystem in Lebanon.

**How to participate**

• Post ONE clear question per top-level comment.

• Upvote questions you want answered. You can also browse **Answered** / **Unanswered** to follow along more easily.

• I’ll start with the most-upvoted, general-interest questions, then work through as many as I can.

• Please keep it civil and on topic.

**From the announcement thread:** We’ve pre-seeded a few top questions here (credited to the original users) so I can begin quickly.

Thanks for having me. Let’s begin!

— **u/Maria_Nehme_OLX_LB**
Post Author: /u/TheBroken0ne
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