⁍ President Donald Trump on Tuesday cast a massive explosion in Beirut as a possible attack, despite statements by Lebanese leaders that it was likely caused by highly explosive material that had been stored at warehouses in the capital for years.

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⁍ ‘The United States stands ready to assist Lebanon,’ Trump said at a White House briefing of Tuesday’s explosion, which killed at least 78 people and injured thousands.

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⁍ When asked later about his depiction of the explosion, Trump said that he had met with some U.S. generals who feel the blast was not ‘some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event

– President Trump on Tuesday cast the massive explosion in Beirut that killed at least 78 people and injured thousands as a “terrible attack,” though US officials tell Reuters that early information suggests it wasn’t an attack at all. Trump said he’d met with US generals who told him “they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.” He added: “The United States stands ready to assist Lebanon.” Lebanese President Michel Aoun earlier said the blast was likely caused by highly explosive material that had been stored at warehouses in the capital for years, the AP reports. Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a televised address to the nation there would be accountability for the “dangerous warehouse.”