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 …