CNA Staff (CNA).- The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch has said an international court may need to examine the circumstances that led to a massive explosion in Beirut on August 4. Speaking to media on Aug. 26 after a visit to a Catholic school in Beirut, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai said that while the Lebanese judiciary must look into the explosion, “if it fails, we must go to the international court.” Boutros called the explosion, which killed at least 180 people and injured thousands, “a major crime and a crime against humanity. After six years of the presence of deadly substances, no one moves a finger. It is unacceptable. They do not have the right to remain idle.”

Thousands of people were left homeless by the explosion, which destroyed entire streets. The Beirut neighborhood of Gemmayze, where the cardinal visited the school Wednesday, was hit particularly hard. The explosion originated after a warehouse storing tonnes of the explosive material ammonium nitrate, fireworks, and other flammable materials, caught fire. The explosive materials had been stored in the warehouse, seemingly unprotected, since 2013. The initial fire is believed to have started from a welding mishap.

by middleeastmonitor.com — French President Emmanuel Macron has sent a roadmap to Lebanese politicians outlining political and financial reforms needed to unlock foreign aid and rescue the country from multiple crises including an economic meltdown, Reuters reports. The two-page “concept paper” delivered by the French ambassador to Beirut, and seen by Reuters, laid out detailed measures, many of them long demanded by foreign donors. They include an audit of the central bank, appointment of an interim government capable of enacting urgent reforms, and early legislative elections within a year. A French Foreign Ministry official declined comment. Macron’s Elysee office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Lebanon’s now-caretaker government, which took office in January with the support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its allies, failed to make progress in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout due to inaction on reforms and a dispute over the size of financial losses. The government resigned over this month’s huge Beirut port explosion that killed at least 180 people, injured some 6,000 and destroyed entire neighbourhoods, and renewed protests against a political elite over endemic corruption and mismanagement that has led to a deep financial crisis. “The priority must go to the rapid formation of a government, to avoid a power vacuum which will leave Lebanon to sink further into the crisis,” the French paper reads.

BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik ) Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Tuesday he will not participate in the race to become the head of the government again and said his name should be removed from the list of candidates. “I claim that do not run for the prime minister’s post and call on everyone to remove my name from the list of candidates,” Hariri said, as quoted by the state-run NNA news agency. The former prime minister has explained his decision by the presence of a number of political forces in the country that refuse to recognize that there is a critical situation in Lebanon and it has caused by multiple reasons, including the long-standing economic crisis. “They see only an opportunity in the situation to take an advantage of power in their own interests,” Hariri added. Hariri has also called on the local authorities to accept international assistance to help restore the Lebanese capital following the recent powerful explosion, as well as to conduct reforms and lead the country out of the crisis.

by euroweeklynews — Following the explosion that tore through Beirut’s Karantina district on 4th August, local health services and hospitals are reaching maximum capacity. Lebanon has suffered a sharp rise in COVID-19 related cases and subsequent deaths in recent weeks. Cases continue to rise to a new high in the aftermath of the explosion that devastated Beirut earlier this month. At a recent press conference, the Health Minister, expressed his fear that: “Public and private hospitals in the capital, in particular, have a very limited capacity, whether in terms of beds in intensive care units or respirators”. The Health Minister is of the firm belief that the government should impose a new two-week lockdown to curtail the rise in cases stating, “We are on the brink, we don’t have the luxury to take our time”.

by csmonitor.com — Scott Peterson —For the veteran Hezbollah fighter, there was one silver lining – but only one – in the massive explosion at Beirut’s port that devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital Aug. 4. Overnight, the price of an AK-47 assault rifle quadrupled from $200 to $800. But for the mechanic-turned-gun dealer, that scrap of relatively good news is far outweighed by what the demand for weapons signals about spreading insecurity in Beirut, and the challenge now faced by Hezbollah amid popular demands to reform a corrupt and sectarian ruling system in which the Shiite movement has become deeply entwined. “We are living in a very, very dangerous time. … Everybody is buying a gun to protect his family,” says the Hezbollah fighter, a former unit commander in Syria who devoted his life to the Shiite “Party of God.” He survived multiple tours in Syria but has become disillusioned as quality of life for all Lebanese has deteriorated.

Public anger over systemic corruption and incompetence erupted last October in protests nationwide that included traditional Hezbollah strongholds. But even as Beirutis replace windows and doors smashed by the blast – their anger grown even deeper – there appear few easy solutions to decades of entrenched sectarian rule that most recently has been brokered by Hezbollah. An image of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, was among those hung by a noose by Lebanese protesters furious about the blast and the collapsing state of their nation. Protesters have for months called for the toppling of the entire political elite, chanting “‘All of them’ means all of them,” in a dig that deliberately includes Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s warning

In a speech soon after the blast, Sheikh Nasrallah warned Lebanese not to blame Hezbollah, or it would “start a battle” that the militia would win – and that Lebanese demanding reforms, presumably, would lose. “We are living in the worst chaos ever witnessed in Lebanon. People are accusing Hezbollah more than ever,” says the veteran fighter, speaking in his cramped workshop in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Many of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s thousands of core fighters no doubt remain devoted to the cause of “resistance” against Israel and against American influence. But this officer – who is not alone in his disenchantment – refused last fall to return to Syria, where Hezbollah and Iran have helped support President Bashar al-Assad, citing to the Monitor leadership “corruption,” fighting on too many front lines across the Middle East, and a fury that “we drowned with their lies.”

by NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews — BEIRUT: Lebanese schools are likely to reopen in the last week of September, said Minister of Education and Higher Education Tarek Majzoub. Amid a rise in COVID-19 cases, the Education Ministry is finalizing a health protocol that will be presented to the Health Ministry for its opinion this week. “Blended education will be adopted, and if conditions worsen we will return to distance learning,” said Majzoub.

But anxiety among students and their families is growing due to the absence of logistical equipment required to undergo distance learning. In addition, the massive explosion at the Port of Beirut earlier this month destroyed many schools in the capital. The numbers destroyed or damaged reached 92 public schools in and around Beirut, 67 private schools and 20 public vocational institutes, according to statistics from the Education Ministry. UNICEF said in a report: “Schools should not reopen except when they are safe for students … The authorities must be flexible and prepared to adapt to verify the safety of every child.”

by dailysabah.com — Kuwait said it will rebuild Lebanon’s only large grain silo that was destroyed by the massive Beirut port explosion, raising fears of food shortages in a country already in a financial meltdown. The destruction of the 120,000-ton capacity structure at the port, the main entry point for food imports, meant buyers must […]

by siasat.com — Beirut, Aug 23 : Lebanon continued to receive donations from foreign countries following the explosions that rocked Beirut’s port on August 4, LBCI local TV channel reported. An aircraft arrived in Beirut from Australia and another one from Belgium carrying medical equipment for Lebanese hospitals, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Lebanon […]

by AFP — WASHINGTON: Credit ratings agency S&P downgraded more Lebanese government debt issues after missed payments, citing the country’s worsening economic crisis following the devastating explosion in Beirut earlier this month. S&P Global Ratings maintained the “selective default” or “SD” rating for Lebanon’s foreign debt, after the country first defaulted in March, but three more bonds were cut to “D” from “CC,” the agency said. “The recent catastrophic explosion in Beirut is deepening the country’s economic crisis,” S&P said in a statement. “A protracted political vacuum or weak new government could further delay policy reforms, external aid and debt restructuring negotiations.” The capital was ravaged by a massive explosion at Beirut’s port on Aug. 4 that killed 181 people and wounded thousands. That was followed by protests against the government, leading the Cabinet to resign. Still reeling from the deadly blast, the country also entered into a new coronavirus lockdown Friday after a string of record daily infections tallies. “Even before these recent events, Lebanon had made limited progress in engaging creditors on debt restructuring negotiations,” S&P said.

by NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews. — BEIRUT: The Lebanese footballer Mohammed Atwi is in intensive care at Al-Maqasid Hospital, battling for his life after he was hit in the head by a bullet on Friday, in the Cola district of Beirut. The incident coincided with the last of the funerals for members of the Beirut Fire Brigade who died in the recent port explosion. Joe Bou Saab’s funeral was taking place in the Ain El-Remmaneh area east of Beirut, as armed men began shooting into the air. Atwi, 33, had played for Al-Tadhamon Football Club in Tyre, and previously for Al-Ansar FC and Akhaa Ahli Aley FC. He had been driving his motorbike wearing a helmet in the Cola district when he was struck by a stray bullet, causing severe bleeding and a fracture of the skull. Sources told Arab News that Atwi “needed 16 units of blood, and although he underwent surgery, the bullet was still in his head and doctors could not pull it out because it was in a very critical place behind the ear.” Atwi was not the only victim that day. A security guard, whose name has not been released, was also hit by a stray bullet in the shoulder in front of an embassy near the Cola area, and underwent surgery. He is in stable condition.

In recent years, there has been a campaign to stop shooting in the air during funeral ceremonies, when political leaders appear on television, at weddings, and even to celebrate passing a high school diploma. There were 147 victims (including 45 fatalities) as a result of stray bullets between 2013 and 2019 in Lebanon. Often, Lebanese people also resort to settling disputes by using weapons, but in the past two days, it seems the use of firearms has escalated. Tension between supporters of the Amal Movement and supporters of Hezbollah, against the background of raising religious tension, has led to gunfire, resulting in the injuring of four people, one of whom, Hussein Khalil, died later from his wounds. During his funeral, there were chants against the secretary-general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, describing him as an “enemy of God.”