Lebanon marchers mourn port blast victims three years on, angry at stalled probe
Beirut, LebanonReuters Thousands of mourners and protesters marched in the Lebanese capital on Friday to remember those killed in a huge port blast three years ago, as religious leaders and rights groups decried the lack of accountability amid a stalled investigation. The explosion killed at least 220 people and wounded thousands when hundreds of tonnes […]
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric says judge probing port blast must be allowed to pursue truth
Amman, Jordan Reuters Lebanon’s top Christian cleric called on Sunday for the judge struggling to investigate the Beirut port explosion to be able to pursue his work and get help from any outside authority to pinpoint those responsible for the devastating blast. Long-simmering tensions over the investigation have boiled over since Judge Tarek Bitar brought […]
Beirut port blast justice postponed as renewed probe is rejected
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanon’s top public prosecutor on Wednesday charged the judge investigating the Beirut port blast and ordered the release of those detained in connection with the explosion, derailing an attempt to resume the probe into the devastating event. The moves by Ghassan Oweidat signal escalating opposition by Lebanon’s ruling establishment to efforts by Judge […]
Judge unexpectedly resumes frozen Beirut blast investigation
Beirut, LebanonReuters The judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion has unexpectedly resumed his inquiry and charged top security officials, three judicial officials said on Monday, more than a year after his probe was frozen by political resistance. Judge Tarek Bitar’s efforts to interrogate top officials over the explosion that killed 220 people and shattered […]
Thousands of protesters mark two years since Beirut blast
Beirut, LebanonReuters Thousands of protesters marched tearfully in the Lebanese capital on Thursday, marking two years since a cataclysmic explosion at the Beirut port, with chants denouncing the government’s failure to uncover the truth behind the blast. In a grim reminder of the disaster, several grain silos that were left heavily damaged by the blast collapsed on […]
From blast to banking crisis, one woman embodies Lebanon’s complete collapse
Beirut, LebanonReuters Liliane Cheaito’s scratchy, laboured breathing went on until a nurse appeared at her hospital bed, where the 28-year-old has spent nearly every moment of the last two years in silent suffering following the Beirut port explosion of 2020. Using a suctioning machine, the nurse emptied her lungs of built-up phlegm and Cheaito’s heaving […]
Beirut port fire revives trauma ahead of blast anniversary
Beirut, LebanonReuters A fire smouldering for days at Beirut port has revived painful memories of the explosion that devastated the Lebanese capital in 2020, with the government struggling to find a way to extinguish it as the second anniversary of the blast approaches. The fire has been burning slowly in the ruins of the port’s […]
Lebanon cabinet approves demolition of Beirut silos damaged in port blast
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanon’s cabinet on Thursday approved the demolition of the Beirut silos damaged in the August, 2020, port blast which left at least 215 people dead, Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makari said in televised comments after a cabinet session. Makari said the decision was based on a “technical report” that concluded the silos could […]
Postcards: Fearing civil war amnesia, activists fight to preserve Beirut port silos
TIMOUR AZHARI, of Reuters, reports from Lebanon on efforts to keep what some believe would be a powerful acknowledgement of suffering in a nation still struggling to come to terms with years of war and strife…
UN chief lays wreath at Beirut port, pushes for blast accountability
Beirut, LebanonReuters UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said Lebanon needed proper accountability for the August, 2020, Beirut port explosion and that elections due to be held next year could usher in political stability in the troubled country. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lays a wreath of flowers at a memorial as he pays tribute […]