Beirut witnessed two blasts at the city Centre in the evening of 4th August,2020. The second blast was so loud that it was heard in Cyprus almost 240km away. At least Twenty-five people were reportedly killed in the blasts and many more were injured. The Red cross teams in the capital have been proactively responding to the situation. Civil defense officials had arrived at the site to help in evacuating the injured people. An important point to note is that the blasts took place very near to the place where Rafik Hariri, a prominent leader of the Lebanese-‘Future movement’ and former prime minister of the country was assassinated in 2005. Rafic Hariri was a Sunni billionaire who made his fortune in the construction industry, mostly in Saudi Arabia. He led the country after its civil war of 1975-90. The site of the blasts is very near to the resident of another former prime minister and son of Rafic Hariri, Saad Hariri, who is currently an integral leader of the Future movement. This Future movement is an important part of the March 14 alliance, a group of liberal secular parties united in their pro Saudi and Anti Syrian stance established in 2005. Some of the notable opponents of the March 14 alliance and the Future movement are the parties under the association named March 8 alliance like the Shia Hezbollah and Free patriotic movement.

These blasts have refreshed the memories of the 2005 assassination of Rafic Hariri which had triggered the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon. The country sits at the crossroads of the middle east politics. It is at the junction of a fluid power balance between Shiite Iran along with its allies like Syria on one side and Sunni dominated Arab Gulf nations with USA on the other side. There are also known three sided tensions between the Future movement, March 8 alliance and Israel. Hence, the role of any outside party in the blasts cannot be ignored away given the tumultuous times the Lebanese polity is going through, which would provide a window of opportunity to any adversarial neighbor or group. This becomes all the more relevant since the role of firecrackers was refuted and involvement of confiscated high explosives is suspected. The blasts came at a time when the world was about to get the UN backed panel verdict decision on the 2005 Rafic Hariri assassination. Hence, some suspect that these blasts were targeted to exacerbate the already tense internal state of matters in Lebanon and trigger another civil war. It is concerning to see that it happened at a time when the unemployment in the country is increasing, the poverty rates has crossed 50% and currency has tanked. Jordan and USA had conveyed their concerns to Lebanon at the situation.