Beirut blast chemicals ‘possibly linked to Syrian businessmen’: Report

BEIRUT/LONDON/MOSCOW: The company that bought the ammonium nitrate which exploded in Beirut last August had possible links to two Syrian businessmen under US sanctions for ties to President Bashar al Assad, according to a report by a Lebanese journalist and London company filings. Savaro Ltd, the trading firm which procured the chemicals in 2013, shared a London address with companies linked to George Haswani and Imad Khoury, according to the report by documentary film-maker Firas Hatoum, which aired on Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV station this week. Haswani, Khoury and his brother Mudalal Khoury have all been sanctioned by Washington for supporting Assad’s war effort. All three are joint Syrian-Russian nationals, according to the US sanctions list and a database that gathers data from official Russian institutions. The US Treasury accused Mudalal Khoury in 2015 of “an attempted procurement of ammonium nitrate in late 2013”. It sanctioned his brother Imad a year later for engaging in business activities with Mudalal. Haswani was sanctioned in 2015 on charges of helping Assad’s government to buy oil from IS militants, which he has denied. — Reuters