German Reports: Ammonium Nitrate Linked to Hezbollah

A Lebanese army soldier and a man carry away an injured man at a hospital in the aftermath of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. Photo: Ibrahim Amro / AFP
A Lebanese army soldier and a man carry away an injured man at a hospital in the aftermath of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. Photo: Ibrahim Amro / AFP
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German Reports: Ammonium Nitrate Linked to Hezbollah

A Lebanese army soldier and a man carry away an injured man at a hospital in the aftermath of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. Photo: Ibrahim Amro / AFP
A Lebanese army soldier and a man carry away an injured man at a hospital in the aftermath of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. Photo: Ibrahim Amro / AFP

Two German reports have said that Hezbollah was behind the ammonium nitrate that exploded at the Port of Beirut on August 4, revealing that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had sent three shipments of the chemical to the Shiite party in 2013.

The first report published by Der Spiegel on Friday said that it was not Russian national Igor Grechushkin who owned the ship “Rhosus” that brought the chemicals to Lebanon, but rather Cypriot businessman Charalambos Manoli, who maintained a relationship with a bank used by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The newspaper said Manoli made every effort to conceal the ownership of the Rhosus.

It said American investigators have accused the bank of money laundering for Hezbollah.

“Another of the bank’s customers was a suspected Syrian front company that had been involved in the country’s chemical weapons program. It was to this bank that Manoli owed money,” Der Spiegel wrote.

In another report, the German daily Die Welt said Hezbollah is believed to have imported up to 670 tons of ammonium nitrate to Lebanon between 2013 and 2014.

The newspaper said it was made privy to information obtained by “Western intelligence,” including purported documentation of the alleged transactions.

According to information from Western intelligence agencies available to Die Welt, Hezbollah in Lebanon received large deliveries of ammonium nitrate, which are closely related to the material detonated in Beirut.

The paper said the first transaction occurred on July 16, 2013, for a 270-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate, sent from Iran to Lebanon at a stated cost of 179,399 euros.

A second payment for the same quantity of ammonium nitrate was made in October 23 of that year, this time at a price of 140,693 euros.

The second shipment is believed to have been transported in flexible bulk containers by plane, likely on private Iranian airlines considered fronts for the Revolutionary Guard.

Then on April 4, 2014, a third transaction was charged for one billion Iranian rials (61,438 euros). While the amount of ammonium nitrate received was unclear, the paper estimated it to be between 90 and 130 tons given the previous charges, for a total of up to 670 tons.

Die Welt said that on the Iranian side, the deliveries are said to have been organized by the logistics department of the Quds Force, while on the Lebanese side, the man responsible for receiving the shipment was Mohammad Qasir, under US sanctions since May 2018 for allegedly acting as a critical financial conduit between the Quds Force and Hezbollah.



Kurdish PKK Militants Burn Weapons in Iraq to Launch Disarmament

 Armed PKK fighters arrive ahead of a disarming ceremony in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, July 11, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. KURDISTAN WORKERS PARTY MEDIA OFFICE/Handout via REUTERS
Armed PKK fighters arrive ahead of a disarming ceremony in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, July 11, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. KURDISTAN WORKERS PARTY MEDIA OFFICE/Handout via REUTERS
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Kurdish PKK Militants Burn Weapons in Iraq to Launch Disarmament

 Armed PKK fighters arrive ahead of a disarming ceremony in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, July 11, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. KURDISTAN WORKERS PARTY MEDIA OFFICE/Handout via REUTERS
Armed PKK fighters arrive ahead of a disarming ceremony in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, July 11, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. KURDISTAN WORKERS PARTY MEDIA OFFICE/Handout via REUTERS

Thirty Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants burned their weapons at the mouth of a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency against Türkiye.

Footage from the ceremony showed the fighters, half of them women, queuing to place AK-47 assault rifles, bandoliers and other guns into a large grey cauldron. Flames later engulfed the black gun shafts pointed to the sky, as Kurdish, Iraqi and Turkish officials watched nearby, Reuters reported.

The PKK, locked in conflict with the Turkish state and outlawed since 1984, decided in May to disband, disarm and end its separatist struggle after a public call to do so from its long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.

After a series of failed peace efforts, the new initiative could pave the way for Ankara to end an insurgency that has killed over 40,000 people, burdened the economy and wrought deep social and political divisions in Türkiye and the wider region.

President Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped the PKK's dissolution would bolster Turkish security and regional stability. "May God grant us success in achieving our goals on this path we walk for the security of our country, the peace of our nation, and the establishment of lasting peace in our region," he said on X.

Friday's ceremony was held at the entrance of the Jasana cave in the town of Dukan, 60 km (37 miles) northwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq's north.

The fighters, in beige military fatigues, were flanked by four commanders including senior PKK figure Bese Hozat, who read a statement in Turkish declaring the group's decision to disarm.

"We voluntarily destroy our weapons, in your presence, as a step of goodwill and determination," she said, before another commander read the same statement in Kurdish.

Helicopters hovered overhead, with dozens of Iraqi Kurdish security forces surrounding the mountainous area, a Reuters witness said.

The ceremony was attended by Turkish and Iraqi intelligence figures, officials of Iraq's Kurdistan regional government and senior members of Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM party - which also played a key role this year facilitating the PKK's disarmament decision.

It was unclear when further handovers would take place.

A senior Turkish official said the arms handover marked an "irreversible turning point" in the peace process, while another government source said ensuing steps would include the legal reintegration of PKK members into society in Türkiye and efforts to heal communities and promote reconciliation.

The PKK has been based in northern Iraq after being pushed well beyond Türkiye's southeastern frontier in recent years. Türkiye's military carries out regular strikes on PKK bases in the region and established several military outposts there.

The end of NATO member Türkiye's conflict with the PKK could have consequences across the region, including in neighboring Syria where the United States is allied with Syrian Kurdish forces that Ankara deems a PKK offshoot.

Washington and Ankara want those Kurds to quickly integrate with Syria's security structure, which has been undergoing reconfiguration since the fall in December of autocratic President Bashar al-Assad. PKK disarmament could add to this pressure, analysts say.

The PKK, DEM and Ocalan have all called on Erdogan's government to address Kurdish demands for more rights in regions where Kurds form a majority, particularly Türkiye's southeast where the insurgency was concentrated.

In a rare online video published on Wednesday, Ocalan - whose large image was shown at the weapons ceremony - also urged Türkiye's parliament to set up a commission to oversee disarmament and manage the broader peace process.

Ankara has taken steps toward forming the commission, while the DEM and Ocalan have said that legal assurances and certain mechanisms were needed to smooth the PKK's transition into democratic politics.

Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's AK Party, said the ceremony marked a first step toward full disarmament and a "terror-free Türkiye", adding this must be completed "in a short time".

Erdogan has said the disarmament will enable the rebuilding of Türkiye's southeast.

Türkiye spent nearly $1.8 trillion over the past five decades combating terrorism, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said.