On August 4th, a huge explosion devastated the Lebanese capital with the epicenter located at the Beirut port. The explosion was due to improper storage of fireworks and 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate in the same Hangar 12 where a fire had broken out around 17:45 local time. The first firefighters arrived on site around 18:00, and asked for backup as the fire had reached the fireworks and their sounds and lights were seen through the windows of the hangar. Right after the call, the first explosion took place — likely as a result of the fireworks — and thirty seconds later, the second and much larger explosion occurred, due to the combustion of the ammonium nitrate which created a vacuum over a 3 km radius and resulted in the destruction of large swaths of the capital.
The current count of fatalities is at 160, with roughly 60 missing, and over 6500 injured. The number of fatalities is expected to increase as the cleanup continues and more bodies are uncovered under collapsed structures.
In addition to the fatalities and injuries, the explosion left 300,000 homeless in a country that was already in complete chaos and economic disaster following the national government defaulting on part of its sovereign debt, the third highest relative to GDP in the world even before its currency collapse.
The main areas hit by the blast were Karantina, Mar Mekhayel, Jeitawi, and Bourj Hammoud — all areas where the majority of Lebanese Armenians live and conduct their business. According to the preliminary reports, 13 Armenians are dead and more than 300 injured.
Armenia and Lebanon
Armenia and Lebanon share a strategic partnership. The Armenian Armed forces serve under the UNIFIL forces for preserving the security of the blue line between Lebanon and Israel. Armenia also has a defense cooperation agreement with Lebanon, which was ratified in September 2019.
More importantly, Lebanon is the home to many descendants of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide whose ancestors found refuge in the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon following World War I. The Armenian community in Lebanon is considered the heart of the Diaspora with its active political and social life, religious institutions, strong relations with Armenia, and its dedication to preserving the Armenian identity in the Land of Cedars.
It is the Armenian community where nationalist parties banned from the Soviet Armenia established themselves, and ensured that Armenian nationalist interests would not be forgotten, at a time when Soviet authorities were determined to purge their various republics from any ideas, memories, or ideologies that ran counter to advancing Soviet unity and state interests.
It’s the Armenian community which gave birth to organizations like ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia) and JCAG (Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide) whose members hunted down Turkish diplomats and interests all over the globe, and forced the Genocide back into the collective conscience of the world- at a time when with no independent Armenian state to advance Armenian interests, the world had conveniently chosen to forget those diplomatically inconvenient events of the past.
The community was among the first to send financial support in the aftermath of the 1988 Spitak earthquake, at a time when it was itself suffering through the 14th year of the Lebanese Civil War. In the years that followed, many in the community left Lebanon to fight alongside their compatriots in the Artsakh Liberation War.
Moreover, in recent years, non-Armenian Lebanese citizens have increasingly shown interest in Armenia as investors and well as tourists, in no small part thanks to the likes of former Lebanese Minister of Tourism Avedis Guidanian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
Furthermore, the strategic relationship has also seen advancement in the defense sector, with the recent defense cooperation agreement outlining a number of dimensions of cooperation, including support of the Lebanese Armed Forces by Armenia’s domestic defense industry.
Delayed and Inadequate Response from Official Armenia
It took several hours for the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to offer his condolences via social media. Pashinyan followed it up only to say that he had offered help, but that the Lebanese government was still evaluating its needs. With more than 6,000 injured and 300,000 homeless, many of them being Armenians, the circumstances demanded a much more prompt and resolute response. The Armenian government should have immediately sent medical and human resources to provide much-needed assistance on the ground.
Many nations, including Russia, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands, and even Turkey deployed teams to the disaster area within two or three days of the catastrophe.
There were calls from civil society in Armenia to send a specialized Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) team, but the government was slow to react. Meanwhile, our Russian counterparts mobilized quickly, sending humanitarian aid, building a makeshift hospital staffed with medical workers and deploying a team to help with search and rescue.
In an attempt to save face, media closely associated and allied to the Prime Minister prematurely disseminated news that Armenia had sent a humanitarian mission. With a significant delay, the government did eventually decide to send medicine, food, and masks. The supplies finally arrived in Beirut on the fifth day of the crisis.
With the Armenian community in Lebanon in distress, some families expressed interest in moving to Armenia. It was therefore shocking when the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, Zareh Sinanyan, announced during an interview that Armenia should strive to become the homeland of Christian Arabs and Assyrians as a way to solve its demographic issues.
The sole purpose of the Diaspora Commissioner is to focus on the issues and problems of the Armenian Diaspora and its relations to the Armenian Nation, and not the broader issue of non-Armenian migration. It is for this reason that Sinanyan came under fire for his out-of-place statement. Many in the community chided Sinanyan, reminding him that under the circumstances, he should be using all available resources to help alleviate the difficulties faced by Lebanese Armenians and provide logistical support for those who wish to relocate to Armenia. This includes securing transportation, temporary housing, and employment opportunities for incoming Armenians.
Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned
Considering the strategic partnership and friendly relationship between Armenia and Lebanon, it would have been wise for the Armenian government to take extraordinary measures to support the local Armenian community during the unfolding crisis. Listed below are some important steps that could have been taken to provide disaster relief to the Lebanese Armenians, some of which are still very much applicable.
- Quickly mobilizing a rescue team made up of Ministry of Emergency Situations professionals and deploying them to the Armenian neighborhoods. Their presence on the ground will help in boosting morale, will assure the community that the Republic of Armenia is ready defend and assist all members of the Armenian Nation across the world, and will provide psychological support, particularly to women and children who have suffered trauma as a result of the disaster.
- Increase the number of flights from Beirut to Yerevan in order to allow more people to come to Armenia. Currently, the flights are once a week and the tickets are very expensive.
- Support the local medical and social centers so they can perform their mission in providing assistance to the population.
- Support the local population in getting back to normal life as much as possible. The support can be in the form of medical supplies, construction material, and manpower.
- Support those families who would prefer to move to Armenia by providing logistics, temporary residence and ways of generating income once they arrive.
Armenia is home for all Armenians. As such, the Armenian government must be prepared and equipped to lend a helping hand to Armenian communities facing disaster in different parts of the world, especially in countries with which Armenia has strategic partnership.