Would the Syrian power have been linked with the delivery, in the port of Beirut, of the cargo of ammonium nitrate at the origin of the devastating explosion of August 4, 2020? This is what suggests a survey broadcast a few days ago on the private Lebanese channel Al-Jadeed. Its author, journalist Firas Hatoum, makes three revelations, likely to give this affair a new dimension.
The documentary first establishes that the order for 2,750 tons of chemical, the ignition of which caused the death of more than 200 people and devastated entire districts of Beirut, was not placed by the Mozambican company. to which they were said until then intended, Fabrica de Explosivos de Moçambique. It is a company domiciled in London, Savaro, which signed the import contract, on July 10, 2013, with a Georgian factory, Rustavi Azot.
Second discovery, Savaro sports all the distinctive signs of a front company. Very few employees, almost non-existent activity and a director of Cypriot nationality, who is listed in an international database as the head of more than 150 other companies, including several based in Panama.
The third find is the most intriguing: Savaro shares the same address, on the banks of the Thames, as two companies run by Syrian-Russian businessmen, close to the Assad regime and placed under sanctions by the United States as such. United: George Haswani, boss of Hesco Engineering and Construction Company and Imad Khoury, founder of IK Petroleum Industrial Company.
“Very interesting trail”
According to Firas Hatoum, of the 70 companies using this London letterbox, only Hesco and IK Petroleum are really active. Reuters, which dived into the UK’s online business register, adds that Hesco and Savaro registered at this address on the same day of the same year, reducing the risk of a mere coincidence.
Another disturbing clue, Imad Khoury’s brother, Moudalal Khoury, was also placed under US sanctions for trying to import ammonium nitrate to Syria in 2013, the same year when this product was highly dangerous entered the port of Beirut. The Khoury brothers and George Haswani’s son denied any connection to Savaro to Reuters. But the elements provided by Al-Jadeed suggest that this empty shell served as a screen for the three Syrian entrepreneurs.
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