Just days after the enormous blast that shattered Beirut, Ali Hammoud found himself looking down on the rubble from an airplane window, leaving behind his family and hometown.

About four years before the Beirut port explosion that killed dozens of people and injured thousands, a U.S. government contractor expressed concern to a Lebanese port official about unsafe storage there of the volatile chemicals that fueled last week's devastating blast, American officials said Tuesday.

There is no indication the contractor communicated his concerns to anyone in the U.S. government.

Tanya can't be alone in a room. Carla, for days, thought a war was starting. Survivors of Beirut's August 4 blast are still in shock over a disaster that disfigured their city.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Tuesday called for forming an “emergency government” and noted that he does not have a favorite candidate for the PM post at the moment.

“Things require the formation of a government, call it what you want, that would first address the economic situation and Beirut’s reconstruction, and before anything else, reform,” Jumblat said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called for removing any Hizbullah “explosives and missiles” from Lebanon’s “inhabited areas.”

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday marked one week since the catastrophic Beirut blast by pledging to “unveil all the facts” about the unprecedented disaster.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi held talks Tuesday in Lebanon with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe.

He also inspected the Jordanian field hospital in Ras al-Dekwaneh.

Last week's cataclysmic explosion has ripped Beirut apart but was it strong enough to topple the entrenched ruling class whose greed and incompetence are blamed for it?

Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukri announced in remarks after meeting President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace on Tuesday that Egypt is ready to support Lebanon.

According to “official” documents, Lebanese security officials warned the prime minister and president of Lebanon last month that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse in Beirut port poses a security risk that could destroy the capital if these materials explode, reports said on Tuesday.