'Without an agreement, there will be war': The obscured future of Syrian Kurdistan
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Ya Libnan
4 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Lebanon awaits justice 5 years after Beirut port explosion
File photo: Smoke rises on Aug. 5, 2020, after an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, the day before. The blast, caused by the detonation of a stockpile of explosive chemicals that had been illegally imported and improperly stored, killed more than 220 people, injured 7000 and destroyed entire neighborhoods of the capital. The Iran backed Hezbollah militant group has been for years trying to get Judge Tarek Bitar who is investigating the blast fired , reportedly because it is concerned about exposing its role in supplying the Syrian regime of Bashar Al Assad with the explosive chemical for use in its barrel bombs against civilians AP Photo/Hussein Malla Five years after the Beirut port explosion, families of victims are still seeking justice By Kareem Chehayeb and Ali Sharafeddine | AP BSALIM, Lebanon — George Bezdjian remembers searching for his daughter, Jessica , after a massive explosion at Beirut's port five years ago. He found her at the St. Georges Hospital where she worked as a nurse The hospital was in the path of the blast and was heavily damaged. He found his daughter lying on the floor as her colleagues tried to revive her. They weren't able to save her. She was one of four medical staff killed there. 'I started telling God that living for 60 years is more than enough. If you're going to take someone from the family, take me and leave her alive,' he told The Associated Press from his home in Bsalim, some 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away from the port. He sat in a corner where he put up portraits of Jessica next to burning incense to honor her. 'I begged him, but he didn't reply to me.' The Aug. 4, 2020 blast in Beirut's port tore through the Lebanese capital after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse. The gigantic explosion killed at least 218 people, according to an AP count, wounded more than 6,000 others and devastated large swathes of Beirut, causing billions of dollars in damages. It further angered the nation, already in economic free-fall after decades of corruption and financial crimes. Many family members of the victims pinned their hopes on Judge Tarek Bitar, who was tasked with investigating the explosion. The maverick judge shook the country's ruling elite, pursuing top officials, who for years obstructed his investigation . But five years after the blast, no official has been convicted as the probe stalled. And the widespread rage over the explosion and years of apparent negligence from a web of political, security and judicial officials has faded as Lebanon's economy further crumbled and conflict rocked the country. Judge Bitar had aimed to release the indictment last year but it was stalled by months of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group that decimated large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, killing some 4,000 people. In early 2025, Lebanon elected President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and a Cabinet that came to power on reformist platforms. They vowed that completing the port probe and holding the perpetrators to account would be a priority. 'There will be no settlement in the port case before there is accountability,' Salam said Sunday. Bitar, apparently galvanized by these developments, summoned a handful of senior political and security officials in July, as well as three judges in a new push for the case, but was unable to release an indictment over the summer as had been widely expected. However, the judge has been working on an additional phase of his investigation — now some 1,200 pages in length — aiming for the indictment to be out by the end of the year, according to four judicial officials and two security officials. They all spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Before completing his own report, he is waiting to receive a fourth and final report from France , which has conducted its own probe into the blast given that several of those killed are citizens of the European country. Bitar since 2021 had received three technical reports, while the fourth will be the French investigation's conclusion, which also looks at the cause of the explosion, the officials added. Bitar is also looking to hear the testimonies of some 15 witnesses, and is reaching out to European and Arab countries for legal cooperation, the officials said. He hopes that some European suspects can be questioned about the shipment of ammonium nitrate and the vessel carrying them that ended up in the Beirut Port. Despite the malaise across much of the troubled country, Kayan Tlais, brother of port supervisor Mohammad Tlais who was killed in the blast, is hopeful that the indictment will see the light of day. He says he's encouraged by Bitar's tenacity and Lebanon's new leadership. 'We do have judges with integrity,' he said. 'The president, prime minister, and all those who came and were voted in do give us hope … they are all the right people in the right place.' The port and the surrounding Beirut neighborhoods that were leveled in the deadly blast appear functional again, but there are still scars. The most visible are what's left standing of the mammoth grain silos at the port, which withstood the force of the blast but later partly collapsed in 2022 after a series of fires. Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh Sunday classified them as historical monuments. There was no centralized effort by the cash-strapped Lebanese government to rebuild the surrounding neighborhoods. An initiative by the World Bank, Europe and United Nations to fund recovery projects was slow to kick off, while larger reconstruction projects were contingent on reforms that never came. Many family and business owners fixed their damaged property out of pocket or reached out to charities and grassroots initiatives. A 2022 survey by the Beirut Urban Lab, a research center at the American University of Beirut, found that 60% to 80% of apartments and businesses damaged in the blast had been repaired. 'This was a reconstruction primarily driven by nonprofits and funded by diaspora streams,' said Mona Harb, a professor of urban studies and politics at AUB and co-founder of the research center. But regardless of how much of the city is rebuilt and through what means, Aug. 4 will always be a 'dark day of sadness,' says Bezdjian. All that matters to him is the indictment and to find who the perpetrators are. He tries to stay calm, but struggles to control how he feels. 'We will do to them what every mother and father would do if someone killed their child, and if they knew who killed their son or daughter,' he said. 'What do you think they would do?' The Washington Post
Ya Libnan
7 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Renewed clashes in Sweida between the Druze and government security forces. Four killed
A file photo showing a Druze militiaman guarding a checkpoint following July's sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority town of Sweida, Syria, Friday, July 25, 2025. © AP – Omar Sanadiki, AP Three Syrian security personnel and a member of a Druze militia were killed in renewed clashes in the southern province of Sweida, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday. More than 1,400 people were killed in an outbreak of sectarian violence in July between members of the Druze religious group and Sunni Bedouins, reportedly supported by government troops. Sweida- Renewed sectarian clashes in southern Syria 's Druze-majority Sweida province killed at least four people on Sunday, a war monitor said, as Damascus accused local groups of violating last month's ceasefire . The province witnessed deadly clashes between Druze fighters and tribal Sunni Bedouins in July that drew the intervention of government forces who came to support the Bedouins A ceasefire put an end to the week of bloodshed – which killed 1,400 people, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – but the situation remained tense, flaring into violence again on Sunday. Humanitarian needs escalate in Sweida as truce frays The Syrian government under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been struggling to consolidate control since he led a shock insurgency that ousted former president Bashar al-Assad in December, ending the Assad family's decades-long autocratic rule. Political opponents and ethnic and religious minorities have been suspicious of Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule and cooperation with affiliated fighters that come from militant groups. Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule and cooperation with affiliated fighters that come from militant groups. State state television said clashes between government forces and Druze militias rocked the southern province of Sweida on Saturday after Druze factions attacked Syrian security forces, killing at least one member. The state-run Alikhbaria channel cited an anonymous security official who said the ceasefire has been broken. The Defense Ministry has not issued any formal statement. The Observatory said three Syrian security forces personnel were killed 'as clashes erupted with local factions around Tal Hadid in the western Sweida countryside'. The Observatory also reported the death of a 'local fighter'. Tal Hadid, controlled by government security forces, is a 'key control point' at a relatively high altitude, according to the monitor, allowing whoever holds it to overlook neighbouring areas. Fighting also erupted around the city of Thaala, the Observatory said, 'following bombardment of the area with shells and heavy weapons launched from areas under the control of government forces, while the sound of explosions and gunfire was heard in various parts of Sweida city'. Syrian state-run news agency SANA accused Druze groups loyal to influential spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri of breaching the ceasefire by attacking government troops in Tal Hadid, killing one security forces officer and injuring others. In a statement, the Syrian interior ministry accused local groups of 'launching treacherous attacks against internal security forces in several locations and striking some villages with rockets and mortars, resulting in the killing and wounding of a number of security personnel'. A security source told Syrian state television that government forces regained control of Tal Hadid and other areas that were attacked on Sunday. 'Force inhabitants to comply' According to the monitor and Sweida locals, Damascus has been imposing a siege on the province, with the Observatory saying the government wants to 'force inhabitants to comply'. On Friday, Sweida residents held protests across the province to demand the withdrawal of government forces and the opening of an aid corridor from neighbouring Jordan . The road linking Sweida to Damascus has been cut off since July 20. Damascus accuses Druze groups of cutting it, but the Observatory says armed groups allied with the government took control of the area and have been blocking travel. The United Nations was able to send some aid convoys to the province, but an interior ministry source told Syrian state television on Sunday that the humanitarian corridor was temporarily closed 'until the area is secured after outlaw groups violated the ceasefire'. FRANCE 24 report in Sweida: Tens of thousands displaced since clashes began
L'Orient-Le Jour
19 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Israel says ground troops conducted raids in Syria
Israel's military said Sunday ground troops had operated in southern Syria, seizing weapons and questioning individuals suspected of arms trafficking, in the latest cross-border raid since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. A military statement said that troops had completed overnight "a mission involving on-site questioning of several suspects involved in weapons trafficking in the Hader area in southern Syria," near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. "Troops entered four locations simultaneously and located numerous weapons that the suspects had been trafficking," the statement said. Footage released by the military showed uniformed Israeli troops in armoured vehicles and on foot operating at night. An Israeli army division remains "deployed in the area, continuing to operate and prevent the entrenchment of any terrorist elements in Syria, with the aim of protecting Israeli civilians, and in particular, the residents of the Golan Heights," the military said. As an Islamist-led offensive late last year toppled Syrian President Assad, Israel deployed troops to the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces following their 1973 war. In July, Israel bombed Syrian government forces in the capital Damascus and in Sweida province to force their withdrawal from the southern region amid a wave of sectarian violence. Israel said it was acting in defence of the Druze community, but some diplomats and analysts say its goal is to weaken the Syrian military and keep the forces of the new government away from the frontier. Israel launched hundreds of strikes on military sites following Asaad's overthrow in December, saying at the time it wanted to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers jihadists. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria.
