Tag Archives: Beirut blast

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 …

Italy’s prime minister said it was time for Lebanon to rebuild trust between the people and its institutions, joining France’s call for change in a nation devastated by a year-long economic crisis and last month’s massive explosion at Beirut port. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was visiting Beirut a week after …

Rescue workers said Saturday there was no longer any sign of life in a collapsed Beirut building, dashing hopes raised by sensor readings showing a pulse beneath the rubble from last month’s blast. The cataclysmic August 4 explosion in the port of Beirut killed at least 191 people, making it …

Lebanon’s army said on Thursday it had found 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate near the entrance to Beirut port, the site of a huge blast last month caused by a large stockpile of the same highly explosive chemical. Army engineers were “dealing with it,” according to an army statement carried …

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib called for the formation of a new government in record time and the immediate implementation of reforms as an entry point for an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. “The opportunity for our country is small,” Adib said after he was formally designated by President …

French President Emmanuel Macron began his trip to Beirut on Monday by visiting Fairouz, one of the Arab world’s most famous singers whose haunting voice has been Lebanon’s soundtrack from its glamorous heyday through its conflicts and latest trauma. Anger at Lebanon’s political elite over an economic meltdown and this …

Lebanese banks that cannot increase their capital by 20% by the end of February 2021 will have to get out of the market, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh told Reuters on Thursday. Those leaving would do so by giving their shares to the central bank, Salameh added. He said he …

Two people were killed and at least three wounded in clashes in a town south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Thursday evening, the state news agency and a security source said, as several political parties urged calm. The Lebanese army said on its Twitter account that it had deployed …

The explosion in Lebanon leads back to an abandoned ship in Beirut that had arrived in the city carrying 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. Reporting by DER SPIEGEL and OCCRP has determined that the ship’s owner has connections to Hezbollah’s bank. By Maximilian Popp, Christoph Reuter und Fritz Schaap In …

The explosive material responsible for the August 4 blast in Beirut was carried by the ailing cargo ship Rhosus in 2013. Here is what happened next. By Christoph Koettl (video Drew Jordan) On Nov. 21, 2013, at 11:27 a.m., a leaky ship arrived in Beirut’s port. It never left, and …

Germany’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Lebanon needed a government that can fight corruption and enact reforms as he toured Beirut port, scene of the devastating explosion that has triggered protests and led the government to resign. Last week’s blast at a warehouse storing highly-explosive material for years killed …

By DAVID ROMANO   So, Lebanon’s prime minister and leading government ministers announced their resignation on Monday evening. They evidently preferred to fall on their swords after demonstrations in Beirut featured effigies with nooses around the necks of Hassan Diab, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. The question is, will …

The International Monetary Fund said on Sunday it was willing to redouble efforts to help Lebanon after the devastating blast that hit Beirut, but said all of the country’s institutions needed to show willingness to carry out reforms. In a statement to an emergency donor conference for Lebanon, the IMF’s …

Rocket warning sirens sounded in northern Israel near the Lebanese border on Friday, Israel’s military said. No further details were immediately available. There were no immediate reports of any explosions and Israel Radio said the sirens were apparently a false alarm. Tensions have been high in recent weeks between Israel …