Tense Beirut marks four years since port blast amid outcry over stalled justice

Residents in Beirut are marking four years since a massive explosion in the port killed more than 200 people, as they live in fear of an escalation of violence in the region.

The blast anniversary on Sunday comes as the region braces for retaliation after an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut and an explosion in Tehran, widely blamed on Israel, killed top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

For many in the city, concerns about a new escalation come as wounds of the port explosion four years ago remain raw.

On August 4 2020, Helen Ata got a call from someone she did not know telling her that a massive explosion at the city’s port had caused her building to collapse. Her brothers were trapped under the rubble.

One of them, Issam, survived, with a permanent disability in his right leg. Her twin brother Abdo, who she calls her “other half”, died.

Sitting beside a portrait of her late twin, Ms Ata said: “We will never feel safe again.”

Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate at a port warehouse detonated, with the gigantic blast tearing through the Lebanese capital, killing at least 218 people and leaving more than 6,000 others injured.

It devastated large swaths of the city, causing billions of pounds in damage.

The blast stunned the nation and a probe by a maverick investigative judge into the explosion shook the country’s ruling elite, rife with corruption and mismanagement.

However, years of obstructions by top officials to dodge accountability and stall the probe have hampered hopes for justice.

“Four years later, there is not a single detainee,” Ms Ata said. “There is a crime, and there are accused, but there are no criminals.”

Judge Tarek Bitar is the second investigator to lead the probe into the port blast. He has charged more than a dozen senior political, security, port and security officials.

Most of the families of the victims rallying for justice have backed him, but senior officials have repeatedly refused to show up for questioning since the start of the investigation.

Karim Nammour, a lawyer with the Lebanese watchdog group Legal Agenda, said the case has rattled officials because it exposed the dangers of the “criminal incompetence” of how they have run the country for decades.

Lebanon’s political leadership has accused Mr Bitar, without providing evidence, of being biased in his investigation, and some even demanded his removal while filing legal complaints against him that have stalled the investigation for years.

In a recent speech, Australia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Andrew Barnes said his country “has a particular and strong interest in seeing a full and transparent investigation into the explosion”, referring to two-year-old Isaac Oehlers who was killed in the blast. “We do not accept the many excuses as to why the investigation cannot continue.”

Four judicial officials said Lebanon’s chief prosecutor Jamal Hajjar and top judge Suhail Abboud met with Mr Bitar several times this year, trying to find a way to reach a settlement that is in line with Lebanese law that would lead to co-operation from top officials to break the gridlock.

According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Mr Hajjar suggested different courts and judges handle the case, limiting Mr Bitar to investigating medium and low-level port employees.

Mr Bitar completely rejected the idea and saw it as caving in to the country’s ruling elite, the officials said, and insisted on continuing his probe, saying he was adamant on issuing an indictment by the end of the year despite obstacles.

Mr Bitar’s probe has been hindered in many ways.

In 2023, then-chief prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat ordered the release of 17 detainees – including port and customs officials – who had been held in pre-trial detention soon after the blast pending the results of the investigation. Mr Bitar and critics called the decision illegal.

This year, two charged ex-ministers who Mr Bitar relentlessly pursued and issued arrest warrants against, Youssef Fenianos and now sitting legislator Ali Hassan Khalil, had their warrants suspended as the case was stalled, a move which Amnesty called “another nail in the coffin of justice”.

Mr Nammour, of Legal Agenda, said: “This is also why the establishment and its institutions are afraid of justice and trying to impede Bitar’s handling of the case. Because he’s pursuing officials in a way that is unprecedented in the country’s history.”

Several rights groups have condemned the Lebanese leadership for not co-operating with Mr Bitar and accused them of obstructing the investigation and abusing the law. Meanwhile, a growing number of people have supported an international United Nations-mandated fact-finding mission which they believe will aid Mr Bitar and keep the investigation moving.

Western countries, notably those whose nationals were killed in the blast, have become increasingly frustrated with the Lebanese authorities as the probe got hampered. A Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, says there is no clear political will for the investigation to continue.

Mirna Habboush and her infant son saw the port warehouse catch fire and explode, and miraculously survived to tell the story. Ms Habboush lost sight in her right eye and suffered wounds in her arms and upper body.

She says all she is asking for is a transparent investigation and an indictment for the sake of the survivors and the victims alike.

“They’re trying to make us forget,” she said. “They’re trying to kill us a second time. In a country like this, with this establishment, and with these people in power, we unfortunately won’t get anywhere.”