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Lebanon – France expresses its total solidarity with the Lebanese people two years after the Beirut port explosion (04 Aug. 2022)

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by diplomatie.gouv.fr -- Two years after the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, France expresses its total solidarity with the Lebanese people. We stand with the victims’ families and loved ones, whose memory we still cherish in Lebanon and France. Those responsible must be held accountable. The Lebanese judiciary must be able to conduct its work and conclude its investigation in a fully transparent manner that is free from any political interference. France has supported every stage of the investigations into the port explosion. We have replied to all the requests we have received in relation to the Lebanese investigation and will continue to do so. The Lebanese people expect the facts about the port explosion to be fully clarified. As President Macron said, justice must prevail; the Lebanese need to know the truth.

Together with our partners, France has kept its commitment to assist all vulnerable groups in Lebanon. That includes providing an additional €100 million in aid for the year, in keeping with the announcement made by President Macron on August 4, 2021, at the international conference organized with the UN in support of Lebanon. It is up to Lebanon’s political leaders to take the necessary decisions without further delay to lead the country out of the multifaceted crisis in which it is mired and to act in the country’s general interest. France will continue to stand with the Lebanese people, as always.

Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry

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by NADIA AL-FAOUR -- arabnews -- DUBAI: Two years ago, on Aug. 4, 2020, Ghassan Hasrouty walked into his office at the port of Beirut where he had worked a steady job for the past 38 years. He would not return home that day. At 6:07 p.m. local time, hundreds of tons of hazardously stored ammonium nitrate ignited in Warehouse 12 where Hasrouty was working. He and several of his colleagues were killed instantly. The third biggest non-nuclear explosion ever recorded in history devastated the port and a whole district of the Lebanese capital. At least 220 people were killed, more than 7,000 wounded, and a city already in the throes of economic and political crisis was left paralyzed under a mushroom cloud of pink smoke. “The investigation of the port explosion will be transparent. Take five days, and any officials involved will be held accountable,” Mohammed Fahmi, Lebanon’s interior minister at the time, said after the blast. And yet, two years on, as families still reel from the loss of their homes, businesses and loved ones, the official Lebanese state’s investigation remains stagnant.

On July 31, part of the port’s now grimly iconic grain silos collapsed, sending a cloud of dust over the capital, reviving traumatic memories of the blast. The Lebanese Cabinet recently approved plans for the controlled demolition of the silos, which were badly damaged but miraculously survived the 2020 blast, having sustained much of its force. The decision has sparked outrage among Beirut residents and victims’ support groups who have called for the silos to be preserved until a full and proper investigation into the blast is concluded. Many place the blame for the blast and its aftermath on corruption and mismanagement within the Lebanese government. With a status quo originating from the days of the 1975 to 1990 civil war, which has rendered those in power effectively untouchable, the inquiry has descended into little more than a finger-pointing match as it moves from one presiding judge to the next. With that, politicians have effectively ensured the complete impunity of officials who have long been wanted for questioning, arrest and prosecution.

Girl power: Lebanese female cadets graduate from military academy

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By Najia Houssari -- BEIRUT: The celebration of the 77th Lebanese Army Day on Monday witnessed over 40 female officers graduating from the Lebanese Army Military Academy. Female officer Lt. Angie Khoury was the top cadet in this year’s graduating class. She read out the oath and all graduates repeated it after her. The gender split reflects “the progress of Lebanese society and the change in the stereotypical picture of women,” said the National Commission for Lebanese Women in a statement. “It also shows that the Lebanese Army appreciates women’s capabilities and qualifications, and opens the door for them to reach decision-making positions in the fields of security and defense,” the commission added.

Women’s access to senior positions in state security is one of the envisaged objectives in the national plan to implement the UN Security Council decision 1325 on women, peace and security. A ministerial decree was issued in 1989 including applicable provisions related to the recruitment and service of Lebanese women in the army, in line with women’s rights to equality, in addition to a defense law that grants all Lebanese the right to volunteer to serve in their country’s military. Over time, women’s roles were no longer limited to administrative work. According to the Lebanese Army’s Orientation Directorate, today “women occupy many positions in combat units and they proved their success in all tasks assigned to them.” The total number of women who graduated from the academy reached 46 out of 121 graduates — 40 from the ground forces, four from the air forces, and two from the maritime forces.

World Bank accuses Lebanese politicians of cruelty over deposit promises

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BEIRUT, (Reuters) - The World Bank accused Lebanese politicians of being cruel by asserting that deposits in the country's collapsed banking sector are sacred, saying such slogans "flagrantly contradict the reality" in a report on Wednesday. Lebanon is in the third year of a financial meltdown that has left eight in ten people poor and which the World Bank says is deliberate and may be one of the three worst in modern times. The new report marked the second time this year the World Bank has berated Lebanon's ruling politicians, having accused them in January of "orchestrating" the country's catastrophic economic meltdown through their exploitative grip on resources.

The collapse has frozen depositors out of savings in the paralysed banking system, and led the local currency to lose more than 90% of its value. "Political slogans for the sacrosanct of deposits are hollow and opportunistic; in fact, the constant abuse of this term by politicians is cruel," the World Bank said in a report. "Not only does it flagrantly contradict reality, it prevents solutions to protect most, if not all small and medium depositors, in dollars and in cash," the report said. Lebanese politicians often say depositors' rights must be preserved in any plan to address losses of some $70 billion in the financial system, even as their savings have lost around 80% of their value due to the collapse. "Losses should have been accepted and carried by bank shareholders and large creditors, who have profited greatly over the last 30 years from a very unequal economic model," the World Bank said. "This should have occurred at beginning of the crisis ... to limit the economic and social pain."

To understand Lebanon today, look at Beirut's collapsing port

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by thenationalnews.com -- Almost two years ago, an explosion at Beirut’s port ripped through the Lebanese capital, killing more than 200 people. It was the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. It was caused by a stock of ammonium nitrate – mostly used as a fertiliser – that caught fire. In the aftermath of the explosion, it became clear that failings by senior officials, who should have known about the dangerous, large and poorly stored stockpile, paved the way for the blast. Two years on, the twisted remains of grain silos at the port, which became a symbol of the blast, are still there, as are much of the contents they stored, now rotting. On Sunday, footage emerged online showing clouds of smoke across the port as parts of the facility fell down. They had been on fire for three weeks before their ultimate demise.

Silos at Beirut port begin to crumble after week-long fire. The state of the silos mirrors the wider circumstances of Lebanon today. Severe, sudden shocks might happen from time to time, but the main problem for the country is still a long-recognised and seemingly unstoppable decline. It is the result of corruption, inaction and mismanagement from political elites, as well as destabilising foreign influence. The silos should have been torn down already, let alone rebuilt. Instead, nature is completing a dangerous job that should be the responsibility of the state, which has become ineffective through a total breakdown in governance and an absence of accountability. The content of the silos, hazardous rotting grain, is also symbolic, this time of the critical food crisis facing the country.

Lebanon allows departure of ship accused of carrying stolen Ukrainian grain

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BEIRUT, (Reuters) By Timour Azhari - Lebanon's top prosecutor has lifted his seizure order on a ship accused by Ukraine of carrying stolen flour and barley, allowing it to sail after finding "no criminal offence committed", a senior judicial source told Reuters. The ship, the Laodicea, remains unable to sail for the time being due to another seizure order issued by a judge in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where the ship is docked, on Monday, the source said. That seizure order was only valid for 72 hours, the judge who issued it previously told Reuters.

However, the Laodicea cannot immediately leave the port of Tripoli because a judge ordered Monday that it may not sail for 72 hours at the request of Ukrainian authorities. If the judge does not extend the order, the ship could sail in two days, a move likely to anger Ukraine. A Lebanese port official confirmed that the ship is still in Tripoli and will only sail if its gets clearance from the judge of urgent matters by Thursday. The Russian Embassy has told Lebanese media that the Ukrainian claim was “baseless.” The U.S. Treasury Department had sanctioned the Laodicea in 2015 for its affiliation with the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, an ally of Russia. According to the Ukraine Embassy, the Laodicea is among scores of vessels that Kyiv alleges have transported grain stolen by Russia.

An official at the Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut said he could not immediately comment, and that the embassy would hold a news conference on Wednesday. Ukraine has said that the Syrian-flagged ship was carrying some 10,000 tonnes of flour and barley plundered by Russia from Ukrainian stores following its February invasion of the country. The Russian Embassy in Lebanon has said it had no information on the cargo. Moscow has previously denied stealing Ukrainian grain. An official from the company that owns the cargo previously denied it was stolen and said that the ship would sail to nearby Syria should it be allowed to leave Tripoli. The Laodicea arrived in Lebanon on July 27 and two days later top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered it seized pending investigations following a protest from the Ukrainian embassy and other Western nations.

President Michel Aoun at the graduation Army ceremony prioritize election of new president

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by presidency.gov.lb -- President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted that the celebration of Army Day comes this year in difficult circumstances the country is going through, under the weight of the accelerating regional and international developments in light of the widening life and economic difficulties faced by the military, and a large segment of the Lebanese. The President also stressed that he spares no effort to alleviate these difficulties within the available capabilities, and strives to keep Lebanon away from all interactions and influences. President Aoun noted that in parallel with Lebanon’s keenness to maintain calm and stability on its southern borders and stressed “Concern for our rights in our territorial waters and natural resources, which are rights that cannot be tolerated under any consideration”.

The President stated that “The on-going indirect negotiations to demarcate southern maritime borders’ first and last goal, is to preserve Lebanon’s rights, and to reach, through cooperation with the American mediator, conclusions that protect our rights and wealth, and achieve, upon the conclusion of negotiations, an opportunity to restore the economic situation in the country. “From my position, and as a reflection of my assumption of my constitutional responsibilities, I reiterate that, as I committed to holding the parliamentary elections, I will work with all my might, in order to provide the appropriate conditions for the election of a new president who will continue the arduous reform process that we have begun” President Aoun said. On the other hand, President Aoun indicated that “This national achievement can only be achieved if the new parliament, president and members, assumes its responsibilities in choosing whom the Lebanese find the personality and the appropriate qualifications to assume this responsibility”. In this context, President Aoun hoped that “The fate of the presidential elections will not be similar to the fate of forming the new government”, stressing that “The failure to form a government exposes the country to further turmoil and deepens economic and financial difficulties. The responsibility of those concerned is essential in preventing the country from further deterioration and slack”.