Circle the area on this map
B. Beirut is the capital and largest city in Lebanon. It was once a popular tourist, business and cultural center called the “Paris of the Middle East.” But, starting with a civil war in 1975 the city was torn apart by years of sectarian violence as Lebanon suffered military occupations by both of its neighbors, Syria and Israel.
A. Iran funded the founding of Hezbollah to organize Shia Muslims to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982. High-ranking offices in Lebanon’s government are reserved for members of the nation’s main religious groups – the president must be a Maronite Christian, prime minister a Sunni Muslim, speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim and deputy speaker an Eastern Orthodox.
C. The Russian ship was carrying the load to the nation of the southeast coast of Africa when the ship’s owner ordered it to stop in Beirut to also pick up a cargo of heavy equipment. After trouble with loading the equipment and a dispute over port fees the ship was impounded and eventually abandoned. It later sunk at a dock in the Beirut port. An impounded shipment of fireworks also was stored in the warehouse with the ammonium nitrate.
B. The chemical is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. But, it also is a component in explosives used in mining, quarrying, and civil construction. Right-wing terrorists used ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil in 1995 to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing at least 168 people, including many children. More than 680 were injured in that blast.