Lebanon president promises justice 5 years after Beirut port blast
The blast on August 4, 2020 was one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, devastating swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500.
The explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
Aoun said that the Lebanese state 'is committed to uncovering the whole truth, no matter the obstacles or how high the positions' involved.
'The law applies to all, without exception,' Aoun said in a statement.
Monday has been declared a day of national mourning, and rallies demanding justice are planned later in the day, converging on the port.
'The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain,' the president told victims' families, adding: 'Justice is coming, accountability is coming.'
After more than a two-year impasse following political and judicial obstruction, investigating judge Tarek Bitar has finished questioning defendants and suspects, a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Bitar is waiting for some procedures to be completed and for a response to requests last month to several Arab and European countries for 'information on specific incidents,' the official added, without elaborating.
The judge will then finalize the investigation and refer the file to the public prosecution for its opinion before he issues an indictment decision, the official said.
President Aoun said that 'we are working with all available means to ensure the investigations are completed with transparency and integrity.'
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former International Court of Justice judge, said on Sunday that knowing the truth and ensuring accountability were national issues, decrying decades of official impunity.
Bitar resumed his inquiry after Aoun and Salam took office this year pledging to uphold judicial independence, after the balance of power shifted following a devastating war between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
Bitar's probe stalled after the Iran-backed group, long a dominant force in Lebanese politics but weakened by the latest war, had accused him of bias and demanded his removal.
Mariana Fodoulian from the association of victims' families said that 'for five years, officials have been trying to evade accountability, always thinking they are above the law.'
'We're not asking for anything more than the truth,' she told AFP.
'We won't stop until we get comprehensive justice.'
On Sunday, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the port's gutted and partially collapsed wheat silos would be included on a list of historic buildings.
Victims' families have long demanded their preservation as a memorial of the catastrophe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
29 minutes ago
- Arab News
Canada says it delivered additional humanitarian assistance to Gaza
The Canadian government said on Monday it delivered additional humanitarian assistance to Gaza, which has been under a devastating Israeli military assault for almost 22 months after the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack. 'The (Canadian Armed Forces) employed a CC-130J Hercules aircraft to conduct an airdrop of critical humanitarian aid in support of Global Affairs Canada into the Gaza Strip. The air drop consisted of 21,600 pounds of aid,' the Canadian government said in a statement. Canada said last week it plans to recognize the State of Palestine at a meeting of the United Nations in September, ratcheting up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in Gaza.
Arab News
29 minutes ago
- Arab News
World ‘cannot act surprised,' says UN expert who warned last year of starvation in Gaza
LONDON: A UN expert who raised the alarm over deliberate mass starvation in Gaza a year and a half ago said governments and corporations 'cannot act surprised' now at the escalating humanitarian catastrophe in the territory. 'Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine,' Michael Fakhri, the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, told The Guardian newspaper on Monday. 'So while it's always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024. 'Israel is starving Gaza. It's genocide. It's a crime against humanity. It's a war crime. I have been repeating it and repeating it and repeating it; I feel like Cassandra,' he added, referencing the Greek mythological figure whose accurate prophecies were ignored. In a recent alert, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned that 'the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out' in Gaza. Fakhri was one of the first to sound the alarm about the crisis. In February 2024, he told The Guardian: 'We have never seen a civilian population made to go so hungry so quickly and so completely; that is the consensus among starvation experts. Intentionally depriving people of food is clearly a war crime. Israel has announced its intention to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part, simply for being Palestinian. This is now a situation of genocide.' The following month, the International Court of Justice acknowledged the risk of genocide and ordered Israel to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine. In May, following an investigation by the International Criminal Court, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country's defense minister at the time, Yoav Gallant, became the first individuals formally accused by an international court of deliberate starvation, a war crime. A group of UN experts, including Fakhri, declared famine in Gaza in July 2024 after the first deaths from starvation were reported. Fakhri also published a UN report documenting Israel's long-standing control over food supplies in Gaza, a stranglehold that meant 80 percent of Gazans were aid-dependent even before the current siege started. Despite this, little action has been taken to stop what Fakhri described as a systematic campaign by Israeli authorities. 'Famine is always political, always predictable and always preventable,' he said. 'But there is no verb to famine. We don't famine people, we starve them — and that inevitably leads to famine if no political action is taken to avoid it. 'But to frame the mass starvation as a consequence of the most recent blockade is a misunderstanding of how starvation works and what's going on in Gaza. People don't all of a sudden starve, children don't wither away that quickly. This is because they have been deliberately weakened for so long. 'The State of Israel itself has used food as a weapon since its creation. It can and does loosen and tighten its starvation machine in response to pressure; it has been fine-tuning this for 25 years.' Netanyahu continues to deny such accusations, stating last week that 'there is no policy of starvation in Gaza.' But aid agencies, including UNICEF, say malnutrition has surged since March this year, when Israel reimposed a total blockade on the territory following the collapse of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. In May, Israel and the Trump administration backed the creation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private logistics group that replaced hundreds of established UN aid hubs with just four distribution sites secured by private contractors and Israeli troops. On June 1, 32 people were reportedly killed trying to obtain food at the foundation's sites, followed by more than 1,300 others since then. 'This is using aid not for humanitarian purposes but to control populations, to move them, to humiliate and weaken people as part of their military tactics,' said Fakhri. 'The GHF is so frightening because it might be the new militarized dystopia of aid of the future.' The GHF has dismissed reports of deaths at its sites as 'false and exaggerated statistics,' and accuses the UN of failing to cooperate. 'If the UN and other groups would collaborate with us, we could end the starvation, desperation and violent incidents almost overnight,' a spokesperson for the foundation said. The deaths from starvation are in addition to at least 60,000 Palestinians reported killed by Israeli air and ground attacks since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023. Researchers say the true death toll is likely to be higher, though international media and observers remain barred from entering Gaza. Fakhri and other UN officials have urged governments and businesses to take concrete steps, including the introduction of international sanctions and the halting of arms sales, to stop the violence and famine. 'I see stronger political language, more condemnation, more plans proposed, but despite the change in rhetoric we're still in the phase of inaction,' he said. 'The politicians and corporations have no excuse; they're really shameful. 'The fact that millions of people are mobilizing in growing numbers shows that everyone in the world understands how many different countries, corporations and individuals are culpable.' The UN General Assembly must step in to deploy peacekeepers and provide escorts for humanitarian aid, Fakhri added. 'They have the majority of votes and, most importantly, millions of people are demanding this,' he said. 'Ordinary people are trying to break through an illegal blockade to deliver humanitarian aid, to implement international law their governments are failing to do. Why else do we have peacekeepers if not to end genocide and prevent starvation?' Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.
Asharq Al-Awsat
42 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Hundreds Gather to Mark Five Years Since Beirut Blast, but Justice Still Elusive
Hundreds of Lebanese gathered solemnly near Beirut's coast on Monday to commemorate a half-decade since the cataclysmic port blast of 2020, when more than 200 people were killed in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. Carrying Lebanese flags and portraits of some of the victims, many of those standing said they felt deeply disappointed that no one has been held to account for the devastating explosion. "Can someone tell me why five years on we're still standing here? If everyone stands with this cause, then who's against us?' said William Noun, whose brother Joseph, a firefighter, was killed by the blast. "This file needs to close. It's been five years and we don't want to have a sixth," Noun said from a stage set up near the port. The blast destroyed large swathes of Beirut, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. The names of all those killed were read out as protesters stood facing the wreckage of the Beirut grain silos, which were heavily damaged in the blast and continued to deteriorate and collapse for years after. At 6:07 p.m. - the time of the blast five years ago - the few hundred gathered stood for a moment of silence. "I'm here because I find it crazy that five years later, we still don't know exactly what happened," said Catherine Otayek, 30. "I had hope for answers in 2020. I didn't think we'd still be here." Although she did not lose anyone herself, the Lebanese expatriate living in France said she made it a point to return to Beirut every year for the commemoration as a duty to fellow Lebanese. The port blast came nearly a year into Lebanon's catastrophic economic collapse, and was followed by a political crisis that paralyzed government and a devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel starting in 2023. INVESTIGATION STYMIED The blast is thought to have been set off by a fire at a warehouse on the evening of August 4, 2020, detonating hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate. Lebanese officials promised at the time that an investigation into the blast's root causes would be completed in five days. But years of political interference stymied the probe, with judicial officials and then-ministers continually raising legal challenges against the investigating judges, effectively paralyzing the investigation. Some Lebanese have drawn hope from pledges by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam - both of whom came to power at the beginning of this year - to prioritize justice for blast victims. On Monday, Aoun pledged to hold those responsible for the blast accountable, regardless of their position or political affiliation. "Justice will not die, and accountability will inevitably come," he said. The president and prime minister did not attend Monday's commemoration. Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation earlier this year and has questioned several officials in recent months, but he has yet to issue a preliminary indictment, which many Lebanese were hoping for ahead of the fifth anniversary. "We want a preliminary indictment that is complete and comprehensive," said Paul Naggear, whose three-year-old daughter Alexandra was killed in the blast. "We want to know who was supposed to evacuate our neighborhoods, so that we could get to the hospital, and so my daughter could have survived." Naggear and his wife Tracy have been among the most vocal advocates for accountability for the blast. Rights groups have pressed for a full investigation that will establish the full chain of responsibility. "Justice delayed is justice denied," said Reina Wehbi, Amnesty International's Lebanon campaigner. "The families of those killed and injured in the Beirut explosion have waited an intolerable five years. They must not be forced to endure another year of impunity."
