Tag Archives: Beirut blast

Lovely Beirut. It is you again: sad, and gorgeous. Trying to get you out of your critical crisis, over your sadness, and all other reasons to cry. My lovely Beirut.By Pascale SawmaIn a way, it feels weird to write about you, as if you are a real human, with a …

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday lamented the presence of “systematic campaigns that are based on lies and aimed at political assassination.” The President, however, stressed that he is determined to “try and make the necessary change, no matter the challenges.” “Politically, there are fabricated and normal crises, and the forensic …

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has called for “grabbing the parliamentary majority” in the upcoming elections to “prevent Hizbullah from controlling the formation of governments.” “If they want to make troubles, let them make troubles. A clear political confrontation is necessary,” Geagea added, in an interview with Annahar newspaper published …

A “scenario” is being prepared to dismiss port blast lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, Lebanese M-TV station said in a report. The TV channel learned that to dismiss Bitar, Prime Minister Najib Miqati is relying on two lawsuits against the state filed by ex-PM Hassan Diab and ex-minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq. …

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday urged Lebanese abroad to turn out heavily in the upcoming parliamentary elections. “Lebanon is sick at the moment and it needs an essential surgery, a surgery that is possible and whose success chances are high, if we all pray for Lebanon and grant …

Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigative judge probing the Beirut port blast, stressed to the families of the victims on Tuesday that “pressures or threats will not push him to back down,” al-Jadeed TV reported. “I will not back down from the Beirut port file unless I’m removed through the …

Former Prime Minister Hassan Diab filed Wednesday a lawsuit against the state, over his prosecution by lead investigator in the Beirut port blast, Judge Tarek Bitar. Judicial sources told al-Jadeed TV that once Bitar is officially notified of the suit by Diab’s defense lawyers, the ex-PM’s prosecution will be paused …

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Wednesday lashed out at the Lebanese Forces and the Amal Movement and accused them of “collusion.” “When I talked about the collusion of the ‘Tayyouneh duo’, a major uproar happened,” Bassil tweeted. “We saw this collusion on the streets over the blood of …

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki has charged 68 people, including 18 detainees, with murder, attempted murder and the stirring of sectarian strife in connection with the deadly Tayyouneh incidents, state-run National News Agency said on Monday. Among those charged in absentia were the Lebanese Forces official …

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Monday joined a Higher Judicial Council meeting after he was summoned by the conferees, media reports said. State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat meanwhile left the meeting seeing as he had been recused from the port case. A statement issued by the Council said …

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has noted that he does not intend to resign and that Cabinet will not convene before a solution is found for the dispute over Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar. “The security situation is stable and there are no fears,” Miqati said in an interview, …

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a Sky News Arabia interview on Wednesday he had signed a bill that lifts immunity on “everyone” who might have borne responsibility for the Beirut port blast, saying they must be held accountable. The disastrous Aug. 4, 2020 explosion left more than 200 …

Palestinian artist Majd Abdel Hamid, a survivor of the 2020 Beirut blast, has opened his first solo show in Brussels this month, with displays of embroidery and video installations to convey the passage of time. Born in Syria and now based in Beirut, 33-year-old visual artist Majd Abdel Hamid embroiders …

A senior official in the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah told the judge investigating the disastrous Beirut port blast that it would remove him from the probe, according to a journalist who says she conveyed the message and a judicial source. Judge Tarek Bitar described the message in a letter to …

A probe into the catastrophic explosion at Beirut port was frozen on Monday when a former minister wanted for questioning as a suspect filed a case questioning the lead investigator’s neutrality, a judicial source said. The Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and …

The lead judge investigating last year’s massive port blast in Beirut issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for former public works minister Youssef Finianos after he failed to appear for questioning, the state-run National News Agency reported. The massive August 2020 explosion was caused by hundreds of tons of ammonium …

Security forces fired water cannon and tear gas at protesters near Lebanon’s parliament building on Wednesday as the country marked the first anniversary of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut port. Demonstrators, angry over a lack of justice for the blast’s victims and a severe deterioration in living conditions, had been …

 Riots left more than two dozen people injured in Tripoli on Friday, including 10 soldiers, as tensions continued to rise in Lebanon. “The situation seems to be getting worse, and things are about to escalate because we are facing a difficult political and social fate,” said Lebanese Armed Forces Commander …

Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri abandoned his months-long effort to form a new government on Thursday, dimming the chances of a cabinet being agreed any time soon that could start rescuing the country from financial meltdown. Hariri announced his decision after meeting President Michel Aoun, saying it was clear they could not agree, …

Police fired tear gas to try to disperse relatives of victims of last year’s Beirut port blast protesting outside the home of the caretaker interior minister on Tuesday over his refusal to let the lead investigator question Lebanon’s security chief. Nearly a year after the Aug. 4 explosion, which killed …

The European Union said on Monday it wanted to agree by the end of July the legal framework for a sanctions regime targeting Lebanese leaders, but cautioned that the measure would not be immediately implemented. Led by France, the EU is seeking to ramp up pressure on Lebanon’s squabbling politicians …

Diab, who has been heading a cabinet in a caretaker capacity for more than 10 months, said any government would need the support of “friendly nations to save the country from the predicament it currently finds itself in.” Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since Diab resigned in …

The judge in charge of the investigation into the Beirut port blast will seek to question top politicians and security officials, Lebanon’s national news agency said on Friday, almost a year after the explosion that devastated the capital. The blast in August, blamed on a huge quantity of chemicals left …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday repeated pledges to import Iranian fuel should shortages across the country persist, saying that all logistical steps for that possibility were complete. Nasrallah, who heads the Iranian-backed armed Lebanese group, said earlier in June Iran could supply fuel to Lebanon in local …

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Sunday a fight among Lebanese leaders to secure power is at the heart of its government crisis and he urged them to set their feud aside and form a cabinet or risk a total financial crash and sanctions. Speaking after talks with …

Josep Borrell, the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, has criticized Lebanese officials and conveyed a “severe” message for “not forming the government after nine months of the resignation of Hassan Diab’s government and nomination of Saad Hariri as prime minister-designate.” Borrell, who is also …

Lebanon’s parliament will convene on Friday to discuss a letter written by the president saying Prime Minister-designate Saad Al-Hariri had shown he was incapable of forming a government that could pull the nation out of financial crisis. The letter, seen by Reuters, follows months of political negotiations in a country …

-France said on Thursday it had started putting in measures to limit some Lebanese officials from entering the country on the grounds that they were blocking efforts to find a solution to the political and economic crisis. With the European Union, Paris has been working on creating a sanctions regime …

Lebanon’s outgoing prime minister said on Friday that experts had found “dangerous chemicals” at a warehouse at the Zahrani oil installations in the south. Hassan Diab said the country’s atomic energy authority identified the substances as “nuclear” after reviewing a report by German company Combi Lift, which Lebanon had tasked …

As Lebanon’s unprecedented economic downfall continues, catalyzed by a medical crisis and mass anti-corruption protests, the country’s tweeters took to social media to showcase the vast wealth of the politicians that are meant to serve them. # Photos of the country’s political leaders wearing luxury watches worth thousands of dollars …

The rift between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri over the formation of Lebanon’s new government widened on Friday. Hariri was instructed to form a new government on Oct. 22, but no progress has yet been made, leaving the country in a political deadlock to add to its …

The Levant News publishes voices from around the word from a wide variety of people with different political and social backgrounds. After stories from the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Italy and the United States today Alberto de Luca writes from Lebanon. A country suffering from an ongoing political and financial crisis …

Interpol has issued red notices for the captain and owner of the ship that carried the chemicals which devastated Beirut in an explosion in August, killing 200 people, Lebanon’s state media said. Five months since one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts on record, big questions remain about the ammonium nitrate …

Lebanon can ration $2 billion in reserves left for subsidies to last six more months, the caretaker prime minister said on Tuesday, as the country’s financial meltdown raises fears of rising hunger. Lebanon’s worst crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war has crashed the currency and sent inflation soaring. A looming …

Lebanon’s security services revealed on Thursday that they had received information regarding a plot to destabilize the country through the assassination of public figures over the coming holiday period. During a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council, the director-general of Lebanese General Security, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, and his counterpart …

Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, former premier Saad al-Hariri, called for the restoration of a French plan to lift the nation out of its worst financial crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. Former colonial power France, which has led foreign aid efforts, has tried to rally have Lebanese leaders to …

Lebanon has asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the Russian captain and owner of the ship that brought the explosive material that detonated at Beirut port in August, killing nearly 200 people, state media reported on Thursday. About two months after the explosion that injured thousands and ravaged the …

The EU on Monday criticized Lebanese politicians for their failure to form a government, after the country’s prime minister-designate quit at the weekend due to pressure from Hezbollah and its allies over key ministerial jobs. Lebanon has experienced almost a year of intense turmoil, which has been exacerbated by the …

France backed on Wednesday a proposal made by Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician to end a deadlock preventing the formation of a cabinet to lead the nation out of its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Paris has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a government quickly but the …

Lebanon’s top Christian cleric took a swipe at leaders of the Shi’ite Muslim community on Sunday for making demands he said were blocking the formation of a new government and causing political paralysis in a nation in deep crisis. Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, leader of the Maronite church, did not …

Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker said his group opposed the way the prime minister-designate was forming a new cabinet and that it would not join on those terms, but that he would still cooperate to stabilise the nation in crisis, his office said. The office of Nabih Berri, head of the Muslim …

Lebanese firefighters and army helicopters on Friday put out the remains of a huge fire at Beirut’s port that had flared up a day earlier, barely a month after a massive blast devastated the port and surrounding area. Thursday’s fire, which officials said was sparked by welding during repair work …

A large fire erupted at Beirut port on Thursday, sending a huge column of smoke over the Lebanese capital weeks after a massive blast devastated the port and surrounding residential area. The blaze began in the shattered duty free zone of the port, prompting some residents to flee the city …

An independent international investigation is the only way to bring to justice those who were directly or indirectly responsible for the massive blast at the port of Beirut on August 4, former Lebanese minister of state for administrative development May Chidiac said in an interview. “If the Lebanese are calling …