BEIRUT– Four years ago, Helen Ata received a call from someone she didn’t know telling her that a massive explosion at Beirut 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, whom she calls her “other half,” died.
“We will never feel safe again,” she told The Associated Press, sitting next to a portrait of Abdo.
The anniversary of the port explosion Sunday comes as the region braces for retaliation after an Israeli strike killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut and an explosion in Tehran, widely attributed to Israel, killed top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. For many, fears of a new escalation arise as the wounds of the port explosion four years ago remain raw.
On August 4, 2020, hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse in the port of Beirut. The massive explosion tore through the Lebanese capital, killing at least 218 people, according to an AP count, injuring more than 6,000 and devastating large areas of Beirut, causing billions of dollars in damage.
The explosion shocked the nation and an investigation by a maverick inquiry judge into the blast shook the country’s ruling elite, plagued by corruption and mismanagement. However, years of obstruction by senior officials to avoid accountability and halt the investigation have hampered hopes for justice.
“Four years later, there is not a single detainee,” Ata said. “There is crime and there are accused, but there are no criminals.”
Judge Tarek Bitar He is the second researcher to lead the probe until the port explosion. He has accused more than a dozen senior political, security, port and security officials. Most victims’ families calling for justice have backed him, but senior officials have repeatedly refused to come forward for questioning since the investigation began.
Karim Nammour, a lawyer for the Lebanese watchdog group Legal Agenda, said the case has unsettled officials because it exposed the dangers of “criminal incompetence” in how they have governed the country for decades.
Lebanon’s political leaders have accused Bitar, without providing evidence, of being biased in his investigation, and some even demanded his ouster 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 died. in the explosion. “We do not accept the many excuses as to why the investigation cannot continue.”
Four judicial officials told the AP that Lebanon’s top prosecutor, Jamal Hajjar, and top judge, Suhail Abboud, met with Bitar several times this year, trying to find a way to reach an agreement that is in line with the Lebanese law and leading to the cooperation of senior officials to break the deadlock.
According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, Hajjar suggested that different courts and judges take up the case, limiting Bitar to investigating mid- and low-level port employees. Bitar completely rejected the idea and saw it as a cave-in to the country’s ruling elite, officials said, and insisted on continuing his investigation, saying he was adamant about issuing an indictment before the end of the year despite the obstacles.
Bitar’s investigation has been hampered in many ways.
In 2023, then-chief prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat ordered the release of 17 detainees — including port and customs officials — who had been remanded in custody shortly after the explosion pending the results of the investigation. Bitar and his critics called the decision illegal.
This year, two accused former ministers whom Bitar relentlessly pursued and issued arrest warrants against, Youssef Fenianos and current lawmaker Ali Hassan Khalil had his court orders suspended because the case stalled, a move Amnesty called “another nail in the coffin of justice.”
“This is also the reason why the establishment and its institutions fear justice and try to prevent Bitar’s handling of the case,” said Legal Agenda’s Nammour. “Because he is going after officials in a way that is unprecedented in the history of the country.”
Several human rights groups have criticized Lebanese leaders for not cooperating with Bitar and accused them of obstructing the investigation and abusing the law. Meanwhile, a growing number of people have supported an international fact-finding mission commissioned by the United Nations that they believe will help Bitar and keep the investigation going.
Western countries, particularly those whose citizens were killed in the explosion, have become increasingly frustrated with Lebanese authorities as the investigation has been hampered. A Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, says there is no clear political will for the investigation to continue.
Mirna Habboush and her young son watched as the port warehouse caught fire and exploded, and miraculously survived to tell the story. Habboush lost sight in his right eye and suffered injuries to her arms and upper body. She says all she asks for is a transparent investigation and prosecution for the sake of both survivors and victims.
“They are trying to make us forget. “They are trying to kill us a second time,” Habboush said. “In a country like this, with this establishment and with these people in power, unfortunately we will get nowhere.”
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