A store of oil and tyres at Beirut port burst into flames on Thursday but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The blaze began in the duty-free zone, sending a huge column of smoke above a city still traumatised by the explosion on 4 August that killed about 190 people and injured 6,000 others. That blast occurred in ammonium nitrate that had been stored at the port in poor condition for years
Continue reading...Blaze reportedly at warehouse where oil and tyres are kept near site of August explosion
A huge fire has broken out at Beirut’s port, triggering panic among residents traumatised by last month’s massive explosion there that killed and injured thousands of people.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire at the facility, which was devastated by the explosion on 4 August, when nearly 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonated and triggered a shockwave that blasted windows, doors and walls miles away.
Continue reading...Dumped on the streets after Covid-19 hit, hundreds of nannies are now starving amid the ruins of last month’s blast
It is just over a month since the Beirut port explosion, and the footage from that day remains as shocking as it was when it first began to appear on our TV screens and social media. In fragments of video, the world saw Beirut life freeze in confusion at the unfamiliar sound of the explosion, then shatter as its impact hit. Among those bits of film we saw one scene, captured on domestic CCTV, that was replicated across the city – an African nanny instinctively scooping children up out of harm’s way, and protecting them with her body.
Related: Beirut's devastating blast has not shaken the ruling class's grip on Lebanon | Gilbert Achcar
Continue reading...Business is strong for glaziers but the mood among most rescuers and residents is sombre
Working 13 hours a day for more than a month, Ghassan Awad has driven trucks carrying glass panels from Beirut’s southern suburbs to the ruins of its waterfront.
He has not been so busy since the 2006 war with Israel. Nor have all Lebanon’s other glaziers, who have been at the frontline of making the capital inhabitable in the 31 days since the massive explosion that killed 190 people, injured more than 6,000 and ripped the city apart.
Continue reading...Search renewed after pulsing signal that may be heartbeat heard under collapsed building
A pulsing signal has been detected from under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the Beirut port explosion last month, raising faint hopes that there may be a survivor there.
A sniffer dog belonging to a Chilean search and rescue team first detected something in rubble of a building that had previously been searched. The team then used audio equipment to listen for a possible heartbeat, and detected what could be a pulse of 18 to 19 beats per minute.
Continue reading...French leader meets Fairouz, 85, amid frustration with ruling class unwilling to change
The French president had tried it all before: rebuking his counterpart, cajoling ministers, withholding aid and imploring the Lebanese ruling class to change its ways in order to save the country.
This time Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beirut with a different approach – a visit to one of the country’s most unifying figures. His first port of call was to the home of the illustrious singer, Fairouz, whose songs of loss and lament have been a soundtrack to Lebanese life for more than 50 years.
Continue reading...Mustapha Adib, the ambassador to Germany, is backed by four former prime ministers as French president flies in to press for new political pact
Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany could become the crisis-stricken country’s next prime minister after getting the support of senior Sunni politicians.
Mustapha Adib was named by four former prime ministers on the eve of binding consultations between the president and parliamentary blocs on their choice for the post.
Continue reading...Local charities work constantly to support Lebanese society. It’s time they had a fair share of foreign aid
Every person in Lebanon has probably been asked: “Where were you during the Beirut port explosion?”
My response is always the same: I was here, in Beirut.
On 4 August, when the explosion ignited our skies, I was here – fighting for my life as windows, doors, and buildings collapsed around me. I was still here in the painful hours that followed, working with fellow activists to spearhead clean-up efforts, distribute food and rescue neighbours trapped under the rubble. And when it was revealed that our government’s alleged negligence led to the fatal blast, I remained here – on the streets with my sisters – to demand justice.
We were among the first to respond to this disaster. We were here before international aid workers arrived, before France hosted an international aid conference for the humanitarian response, and before the dust settled on our now devastated city.
Many Lebanese people had hoped for a silver lining to this tragedy of an independent government and new elections
The tremendous blast that shook Lebanon on 4 August will be recorded as a major turning point in the country’s history, no less so than the much less powerful explosion that killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005. Judging from the 15 years it took before a UN-appointed tribunal basically admitted its impotence on the latter event, there won’t be any official certainty about the circumstances of the terrible explosion at Beirut’s port in the foreseeable future. A few conclusions can, however. be drawn about this highly traumatic tragedy.
Related: 'Our stitches ran out': Beirut's struggle to deal with injuries from port blast
Continue reading...Cargo from the MV Rhosus caused the explosion in Lebanon’s main port – its crew say they were stranded aboard for a year
The problems began the moment Captain Boris Prokoshev set sail aboard the MV Rhosus in 2013.
He discovered that the ageing Russian-owned cargo ship, bound for Mozambique, was in “terrible” condition, including having a defunct generator. Then he learned that the previous crew had mutinied over unpaid wages. So it was no surprise when the owner told Prokoshev there was no money to pay for fees for the Suez canal, either.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Middle East writers reflect on a week of devastation and anger after a blast that shocked the world
For most of my 15 years in the Middle East, I’ve had a home in Beirut. It’s been a sanctuary to return to from countless trips around the region, a place where the rigours, and sometimes dangers, of Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere could be set aside for a while.
Continue reading...As quest for answers over massive port blast begins, a tribunal is expected announce findings on death of Rafik Hariri
A military judge in Beirut will, on 17 August, start examining a report into the cataclysmic explosion that levelled parts of the city 12 days ago, and determine who might face charges. A day later, five thousand miles away in The Hague, an international tribunal is due to hand down a verdict into a blast that took place 15 years earlier, killing the country’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri and unleashing a generation of havoc, from which it is yet to recover.
The tales behind the two explosions are the most important events in the modern history of Lebanon. The 2005 assassination of a leader credited by many with leading a broken nation from the rubble of war had remained a searing wound, while the annihilation of much of Beirut on 4 August has left gaping new scars on the country’s psyche.
Continue reading...US diplomat David Hale calls for a thorough and transparent investigation into the blast
A team of FBI investigators is due to arrive in Lebanon this weekend to take part in the investigation into Beirut’s explosion, a senior US official has said, after visiting the location of the blast.
David Hale, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, called on Saturday for a thorough and transparent investigation. He said the FBI team was taking part at the invitation of Lebanese authorities in order to figure out what caused the 4 August explosion that killed nearly 180 people and wounded thousands.
Continue reading...Among the many homes and buildings damaged by the Beirut explosion were the Sursock Palace and Museum. The 19th-century palace was once one of Beirut’s grandest town houses, and the mansion housing the museum was left to the city of Beirut in 1952
Continue reading...Support for abused men, trans women and non-binary people is urgently needed
Yousef, a 28-year-old gay man, was raped by Syrian intelligence agents who had detained him for participating in protests during the conflict in Syria. He fled to Lebanon, but found only limited services to help him deal with the traumatic aftermath. By the time I interviewed him, he was resettled in the Netherlands. Geographically speaking, he was away from all the violence, but it still haunted him. “I look behind me when I am walking,” he told me. “I still wake up at night. It [the trauma] is not over.”
Yousef is one of dozens of sexual violence survivors from Syria whom I interviewed for Human Rights Watch. I found that since the beginning of the Syrian conflict men and boys – in addition to women and girls – have been subjected to sexual violence, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, by both government agents and non-government actors.
Continue reading...A third night of clashes between demonstrators and security forces broke out near the parliament building in Beirut, in which police used teargas and protesters threw stones and fireworks, in the wake of the devastating explosion that hit the city's port a week ago. The Lebanese prime minister's announcement a day before that the government would resign did little to quell the anger of a people demanding change to the political system
Continue reading...Many in Lebanon hope a new government of national unity will pave the way for reform after last week’s explosion
In the wake of Lebanese prime minister Hassan Diab’s announcement that his government will resign, the country has been left wondering whether the explosion that decimated Beirut is also strong enough to uproot Lebanon’s rotten political system.
In a televised address on Monday night after more than a third of ministers quit their posts, forcing him to do the same, Diab said that the corruption of the country’s entrenched ruling class “created this tragedy” but avoided taking personal responsibility.
Continue reading...Without a radical overhaul the next government could look like the one that resigned
Like a break in a merciless heatwave, the fall of Lebanon’s failed government has reduced by a few degrees the political temperature in the country’s towns and cities. One week after the enormous explosion that levelled much of Beirut, its rulers have rightly paid a price. The power of the street had exposed the fragility of Lebanese leaders. Impunity hadn’t won the day after all.
But what seemed like much needed relief is more likely to be the start of a familiar pattern; the same line up of ministers who quit in disgrace will now take on a caretaker role, while those who really control the country haggle over the next incarnation of a government that is likely to look very similar to the one that has just resigned.
Continue reading...It is a week since the devastating explosion rocked Beirut, killing more than 200 people. As shock turns to anger and the cabinet resigns, Bethan McKernan and Martin Chulov report on what comes next for the Lebanese people
The deadly explosion that ripped through Beirut last week has left more than 200 people dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. The blast happened in a summer of already simmering tension in Lebanon as an economic crisis has taken a devastating toll on the country.
The Guardian’s Martin Chulov, who is based in Beirut, describes the moment his apartment was rocked by the blast – and what he witnessed that day. He tells Mythili Rao the scenes were apocalyptic, and worsened the closer he walked to the site of the explosion at the city’s docks.
Continue reading...Lebanon's prime minister Hassan Diab has announced the resignation of his government after a powerful Beirut port explosion sparked public uproar against the country's leaders. Diab, in a televised speech, said the detonation of highly explosive material warehoused at the port in the capital for the last seven years was 'the result of endemic corruption'
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