Beirut
'Nothing left': in crisis-hit Lebanon bread too is scarce
Lebanese flocked to bakeries before dawn on Friday, desperate to find affordable bread in a country where fuel and medicine are already in critically short...
The domestic investigation has yet to determine what triggered the blast, where the chemicals originated from or why they were left unattended for six years.
Shortly after 6:00 pm on that ill-fated Tuesday, hundreds of tonnes of poorly stored ammonium nitrate caught fire and caused what has been described as one of the largest ever non-nuclear explosions.
"We are killing each other for a bag of diapers and a carton of milk," one protester told a local TV station.
Lebanon and Israel, which are still technically at war, last week said they had agreed to begin UN-brokered negotiations over the shared frontier, in what Washington hailed a "historic" agreement.
Lebanon had already been mired in its worst economic crisis in decades and battling the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The compensation will go to owners of homes and businesses damaged in the explosion that left more than 190 dead and devastated swathes of the capital, a source at the presidency said.
"Since 2012, Hezbollah has established caches of ammonium nitrate throughout Europe by transporting first aid kits whose cold packs contain the substance," US counterterrorism coordinator Nathan Sales said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze just over a month after the August 4 blast which killed more than 190 people, wounded thousands and ravaged much of the capital.
The official added it was time for Lebanese political parties to temporarily step aside and ensure a government of change was put into place.
Customs director-general Badri Daher has been in detention for more than ten days over the 4 August explosion that killed 177 people, wounded at least 6,500 others, and devastated swathes of the capital.
The explosion revived a street protest movement that had first erupted in October last year against government corruption and a lingering economic crisis.
The state of emergency formally approved by the parliament allows the army to close down assembly points and prohibit gatherings deemed threats to national security.
There are many unanswered questions surrounding last week’s huge, deadly blast in the Lebanese capital, but ownership should be among the easiest to resolve.
Reuters reported that the president and prime minister were warned in July about the warehoused ammonium nitrate, according to documents and senior security sources.
Lebanon's premier Hassan Diab stepped down Monday amid fury within and outside his government over the deadly Beirut port blast.
The resignation of the minister, Ghazi Wazni, brings the entire government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab closer to collapsing over the 4 August explosion that has reignited angry street protests.
Fifteen government leaders including US President Donald Trump took part in the virtual conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and the UN, pledging solidarity with the Lebanese people.
The explosion that hit Beirut's port devastated large parts of the Lebanese capital, claiming over 150 lives and wounding some 6,000 people.