Third Anniversary of Beirut Port Explosion; No Officials Held Accountable Yet

Reuters reported on Thursday that a ceremony is set to be held on Friday, August 4, to mark the third anniversary of the Beirut port explosion. This ceremony will take place while the case of the explosion remains unresolved and no officials have been held accountable. The explosion, which occurred at 6 PM on August 4, 2020, in Beirut, resulted in at least 220 deaths and thousands of injuries, damaging parts of Lebanon's capital. The explosion was caused by a fire in a warehouse containing ammonium nitrate, with hundreds of tons of this chemical stored there. According to Reuters, the ammonium nitrate shipment was destined for Mozambique on a Russian-chartered ship in the summer of 2013 but was unloaded at the Beirut port during an unscheduled stop. The shipment remained in a warehouse at the port since that year, and no one claimed it amid a legal dispute over unpaid fees and damages. The FBI concluded that at the time of the explosion, only one-fifth of the total 2,800 tons of ammonium nitrate had been unloaded, with the rest disappearing before the explosion. Reuters noted that many Lebanese officials, including then-President Michel Aoun and then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab, were aware of the shipment's existence. In this regard, Michel Aoun stated after the explosion that he had instructed security chiefs to 'do what is necessary.' The report indicates that the ruling factions in Lebanon's judiciary hold significant influence, and a senior Lebanese judge acknowledged this issue in 2022. Judge Fadi Sawan, appointed by the Lebanese Minister of Justice to investigate the explosion, accused three former ministers and Hassan Diab of negligence in December 2020. However, the court dismissed him from the case in February 2021 after complaints from two former ministers, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter, stating he had 'overstepped his authority.' Tarek Bitar, Sawan's successor, sought to interrogate senior figures, including Khalil and Zeaiter, but all denied wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the suspects' request for Bitar's dismissal due to alleged 'bias and errors' has led to the suspension of several investigations. Judges intended to decide on these complaints in 2022; however, investigations remain shrouded in ambiguity. Nevertheless, in the winter of 2022, Tarek Bitar unexpectedly resumed his investigations and accused more officials, including Abbas Ibrahim, a senior security official at the time of the explosion. According to Reuters, investigations have yet to yield results, and the case remains open.