ان التفلت الامني في البلاد، الناتج عن عدم حصر السلاح وعناصر النفوذ والقوة بيد الدولة، ومن بينها المرفأ ادى الى الفوضى والتسيب ومخالفة القانون وبالتالي الى الغموض في الوقائع المتعلقة بادخال النيترات وسرقتها وانفجارها . هذا الوضع فرض على المحققين توسيع مروحة التحقيقات وقوبل باعتراضات لامست التوتر الطائفي ما اطاح بدولة القانون في العاصمة بيروت […]

by AFP — BEIRUT: Lebanon’s month-old government called off a cabinet session Wednesday as a political crisis brewed within its ranks over whether to remove a judge investigating the massive August 2020 Beirut port blast. The debate comes at a time when Lebanese are desperately waiting for the government, formed in September after protracted horse-trading, to tackle Lebanon’s dire economic crisis. Judge Tarek Bitar was forced to suspend his probe on Tuesday after former ministers he had summoned on suspicion of negligence filed lawsuits against him. He is now emerging as the target of a political campaign led by the Shiite movements Hezbollah and Amal. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah accused him this week of political bias. Senior Amal lawmaker and former minister Ali Hasan Khalil threatened a “political escalation” if the course of the investigation “was not rectified,” after Bitar on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant against him for failing to show up for questioning. A cabinet session Tuesday ended with a row as ministers affiliated with Hezbollah and Amal pressed the government to support their demand to replace Bitar, according to a senior official who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

A follow-up session scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, signalling no agreement has been reached between factions in the cabinet, with some ministers arguing the government should not intervene in judicial matters. Supporters of Hezbollah and Amal called for an anti-Bitar rally on Thursday near the Justice Palace in Beirut, the site where relatives of blast victims usually stage protests denouncing political interference. Since taking up the case, Bitar has summoned an array of former premiers and ministers as well as top military and security officials for questioning on suspicion of criminal negligence. He also called in two other ex-ministers for questioning this week before he was forced to pause his probe for the second time in less than a month.

by thenationalnews.com — Lebanese authorities have denied mistreating an American-Lebanese citizen in prison who died after his release last year. In a four-page statement sent to The National, Lebanon’s General Security refuted claims by Amer Fakhoury’s family that he was mistreated during his time in prison, leading to his death from cancer. General Security said a forensic doctor had issued a report that “confirms the absence of any signs of torture or beatings or that he was subjected to any violence,” during his time at a detention centre they run. It did not provide a copy of the report to The National, or give the doctor’s name. The statement said Fakhoury was transferred to a military hospital in November 2019 and to two civilian hospitals in December that year and January 2020. His wife, family, lawyers and the American Embassy “visited him regularly and viewed his medical file” it adds.

Fakhoury’s return to Beirut two years ago sparked controversy because Lebanese authorities accused him of torture and of having collaborated with Israel more than 20 years ago. Collaboration with Israel is a serious crime in Lebanon. The two countries do not have diplomatic ties and are technically still at war. Giulia Fakhoury, one of his four daughters, previously told The National that her father “obtained the Epstein Barr Virus at the Lebanese General Security”, and that the virus took his life as it went untreated and developed into lymphoma cancer. The family said last week that they are suing Iran and Hezbollah in a US federal court for the death of Fakhoury last year. They say the group controls Lebanon and is responsible for his incarceration and death.

New York, by cpj.org — Lebanese authorities must identify the people who stormed the Beirut office of daily newspaper and news website Al-Sharq and hold them to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, at least a dozen supporters of Lebanese President Michel Aoun stormed inside the Al-Sharq office and hung pictures of Aoun with the slogan “his highness the president, the crown over your heads,” according to Al-Sharq, the regional press freedom group SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, and footage and pictures of the incident in Lebanese media. The sources did not provide further details of the incident. The incident happened after Al-Sharq’s publication that day of what appeared to be an altered image of Aoun in pajamas with the caption “the general’s uniform on the occasion of the anniversary of October 13, 1990.” According to commentary in local news site Al-Modon, the image implied that while soldiers under Aoun were fighting in Lebanon’s Civil War, he was relaxing at the French Embassy in Beirut, where he took shelter after he was ousted on that date from his role as interim prime minister of the military government of Christian majority East Beirut.

After a 15 year exile in France, Aoun returned to Lebanon in 2005 and has served as president since October 2016, according to news reports. “Those who stormed the office of Al-Sharq should be swiftly held to account to show that attacks on media will not be tolerated in Lebanon,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado. “Lebanese authorities should step up the efforts to ensure the safety of journalists regardless of the outlet they work for or their political views.” Awni al-Kaaki, owner of Al-Sharq and head of the Lebanese journalists’ syndicate, told SKeyes that the protesters were expelled from the office by Lebanese soldiers. He said that the storming was a direct response to the publication of the image. “What happened is because of what was published in a newspaper. I am not pleased with the leadership and with what’s happening in this country and I have objections that I write and express in the newspaper with respect for the position of the president of the republic,” al-Kaaki said.

A ceiling light by Sami El Khazen. – Credit: Bonhams/Paul R. Williams: Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

Sami El Khazen (Circa 1943-1988)

By Helena Madden — Born in Lebanon in the early 1940s, El Khazen was a pivotal interior designer in the Middle East, though much of his work has been lost. Many of the homes that he decorated were destroyed in the Lebanese Civil War that ravaged the country during the latter half of the 20th century. Still, bits and pieces of his influential oeuvre remain. He received one of his biggest commissions remarkably early in his career: the interior design of the Lebanese Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. The centerpiece was a massive, nickel-plated-bronze and acrylic chandelier (pictured below) that he made in collaboration with Italian manufacturer Arredoluce. The Shah of Iran purchased it and displayed it in his palace dining room after re-engineering it into a slightly smaller piece; it sold at auction for $32,500 in 2018. What defined El Khazen’s approach was his ability to combine Eastern and Western traditions while also prioritizing Islamic art. His sensibility is most evident in his studio and home on the ground floor of the Rose House in Beirut, a colorful building constructed in 1882. El Khazen softened some of the Arabic architecture’s characteristic geometries to create a more calming environment for work. It was featured in Architectural Digest, which referred to him as “one of the Middle East’s most innovative designers.”

by Laila Bassam and Maha El Dahan Beirut (Reuters)– Judge investigating a disastrous Beirut harbor explosion and top politicians asking the Lebanese cabinet on Tuesday after a second investigation was interrupted in less than three weeks on Tuesday. Conflict between. Judge Tarek Bitar tried to ask some of Lebanon’s most powerful people on suspicion of knowing the stored chemicals involved in the August 4, 2020 explosion, but what to avoid. The investigation faced obstacles, if not. Vital has been accused of investigating his political prejudices and is under great pressure from the group that launched a slander campaign against him. Hezbollah, the leader of the Iran-backed and heavily armed Shiite political movement, said on Monday that he wanted to eliminate Vital from the case. On Tuesday, the investigation was shelved again based on another complaint condemning Bitar’s prejudice.

The impasse spilled over to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, with two sources directly aware of the issue, primarily Hezbollah and Shiite Amal movement ministers calling for the expulsion of Vital in a heated and decisive debate. I told Reuters. The cabinet will meet again on Wednesday to discuss the investigation, a former finance minister, who issued an arrest warrant for Vital, said in an interview with Lebanese parent Iran’s Armaya Dean TV. The warrant of Ali Hassan Khalil, a senior member of Amal and an ally of Hezbollah, was the second warrant issued to the former minister and was a major cause of heightened tensions on Tuesday. Mr Karil said the warrant was considered illegal and he would not pay attention to it. He said Vital was politically influenced, adding that “the legal path followed in this study is pushing the country towards a civil war.” “All options for political escalation are open,” Karil said when asked by Al Mayadeen if some ministers would resign if Vital wasn’t dismissed. ..

Bitar has been the recipient of heavy criticism from Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, who has repeatedly accused him of politicizing the probe. On Monday, Nasrallah spent nearly a quarter of his one-hour speech meant to address the country’s multiple crises to criticize almost every decision Bitar has made. He accused him of politicizing the probe, targeting mainly officials who are allies of Hezbollah while failing to even question others. Some Lebanese have pointed the finger at Hezbollah, saying it may have stored explosives at the port, a charge the group denies. No evidence has emerged that links Hezbollah directly to the blast and none of its members are defendants in the case. Bitar’s removal, if it happens, will be a major blow to the investigation, and a clear violation of the already questioned independence of the judiciary.

by english.alaraby.co.uk — The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement Monday accused the judge leading investigations into last year’s port blast of politicising the probe and called for an “honest” judge to take over. Tarek Bitar, appointed to lead investigations in February after his predecessor was removed for summoning senior leaders, has come under increasing scrutiny for also going after top officials suspected of criminal negligence. He was recently forced to suspend his work for a week because of lawsuits filed by former ministers demanding his removal, before a court this month turned down their request allowing him to resume investigations. “There are very big mistakes happening… (Bitar) won’t deliver the truth, nor will he deliver justice; only injustice and an obscuring of the truth,” Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah said. “This doesn’t mean we are calling for an end to investigations, not at all, but we are calling for an honest and transparent judge to work on a probe that is also clear, transparent” and free of political bias, he added.

Speaking in a televised address, Nasrallah accused Bitar of “working toward political objectives,” without elaborating. The Hezbollah leader said Bitar’s summonses revealed a political bias. “We had warned him not to be biased and not to politicise the investigation… now he is approaching it as though he is the master of the case.” Last month, Lebanese media leaked a message from a senior Hezbollah official to Bitar, threatening him with removal over his approach to the investigation. “Things cannot go on this way, especially in the coming days,” Nasrallah said on Monday.

By NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Firefighters extinguished a blaze that broke out on Monday morning at Al-Zahrani oil facility, south of Beirut, with Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad estimating that 250,000 liters of petrol had been destroyed in the incident. He suggested the fire had been caused by a “mistake during the process of transporting the fuel that was in the tank, whose ceiling was tilted.” As many as 15 fully staffed fire trucks worked to control the fire by isolating the tank to prevent the flames from spreading. The fire provoked memories of the massive blast at Beirut Port 14 months ago, which killed more than 200 people, injured thousands, and devastated the capital. People went on social media to express their fears about the Al-Zahrani fire being deliberate, while others regretted their “bad luck and the never-ending daily catastrophes.” An investigation has been launched into the fire. “We must wait for the results of the investigation in order to know whether anyone is responsible or whether the fire was caused by natural factors,” Fayyad noted.

Civil Defense Director-General Brig. Gen. Raymond Khattar said it was “too early” to know the causes of the fire. The Lebanese army gave 6,000 kiloliters of gas oil to Electricite du Liban from its reserves to reconnect the electrical grid in production plants to bring the country out of its total blackout due to fuel shortages. Fayyad said: “Today, the Jiyeh reverse engine plant was connected to the grid with a power of 50 megawatts, Deir Ammar plant with a power of 210 megawatts, and the reverse engine plant in Zouk with a power of 120 megawatts, as well as Al-Zahrani. “This quantity is enough for three days, after which the plants’ production capacity will be replaced by another from the Zouk and Jiyeh thermal plants after supplying them with the fuel oil that arrived on Sunday evening, samples of which were examined by the Bureau Veritas labs in Dubai. The total production capacity will thus remain within limits at 500 megawatts to maintain the grid’s stability. “The Central Bank has agreed to secure $100 million to conduct a bid to import fuel, which will help raise the hours of electricity supply by the end of this month.”

  منقول كما هو : *سبق ان صرَّح الرئيس سليمان مراراً استعداده للذهاب الى القاضي والادلاء بما يعلم، وتحديدا من صرح بكركي :*  *ولدى سوأله عن تصريح نصرالله اليوم اجاب …. انه ما يزال على استعداد للذهاب الى القاضي باستدعاء ودون استدعاء*  *وهذا ما صرَّح به سابقاً فخامة الرئيس ميشال سليمان سابقا*  ١١/٨/٢٠٢١  _سليمان من […]

by lbcgroup.tv — Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al Rahi appealed for a Lebanese and international surveillance of the electoral process starting today. Speaking in his religious sermon as he presided over Sunday Mass this morning, the Patriarch said: “While the people and friends of Lebanon want a better future for the country, we are keen on holding the parliamentary elections at their constitutional dates, so that changing the dates, amending the existing law, and circumventing the participation of expatriates do not become excuses that threaten the holding of elections against the will of the people and the international community.” He added that “tampering with the issue of elections this time would lead to risks of unknown repercussions…

The people want the elections as an opportunity to change their painful reality, and a starting point for a new national life. The people want transparent and fair elections, far from political money that bets on people’s poverty to buy their votes and conscience. Therefore, we call, from now, for Lebanese and international monitoring of the electoral process.” Over the new government’s mission, the Patriarch said: “We are counting on the current government, especially on its head, who assured us, in his honorable visit yesterday, of his determination to work to overcome the many obstacles that would confront his cabinet, and to embark on the reform workshop immediately, without which there is no success, aid, or Arab and international solidarity.”