Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Senior Lebanese officials knew of the risks posed by the highly explosive material stored for years at Beirut’s port and did nothing to protect the public against it, an international human rights group said Tuesday.

In a report on last year’s massive blast, Human Rights Watch said those same officials are now trying to thwart the investigation.

BEIRUT, Aug 2 (NNN-NNA) – Five people were killed and over 10 others were wounded yesterday, in an armed clash between supporters of Hezbollah and a rival faction, in Khaldeh, at the southern entrance of Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel, reported.

The armed clashes erupted after the funeral of Ali Chebli, a Hezbollah supporter, who was killed during a wedding in the area on Saturday night. Saturday’s killing was committed by the brother of a teenager, who was killed in a clash last year, allegedly by Chebli, according to the report.

02 Aug 2021; MEMO: A local official of the Iran-backed and Lebanon-based Shia militant movement Hezbollah was assassinated publicly at a wedding on Saturday, in an act of revenge for the killing of Sunni teenager last year.

After the fierce clashes that took place in the Lebanese coastal town of Khaldeh last year, in which the Sunni Arab teenager Hassan Zaher Ghosn was reportedly killed by Shia militants, there have been ongoing tensions between the two communities which have only escalated.

BEIRUT, Aug 1 (Reuters) - At least three people were killed on Sunday in an ambush on Shi'ite mourners in a town south of Beirut, a day after a revenge killing of a member of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, security sources and a senior source in the group said.

The three were shot in the town of Khaldeh, where sectarian tensions have long flared between the town's mixed Shi'ite and Sunni residents. Several others were taken to hospital in civilian cars, witnesses said.

BEIRUT, Jul 30 (NNN-NNA) – The massive fire that broke out in Lebanon’s northern village of Qoubaiyat is continuing to rage in the region, for the second day, a local news outlet reported yesterday.

The massive fire has engulfed large swathes of the area, causing residents to collect water to help extinguish the fire. Meanwhile, the country’s fire brigade and army are trying to control the fires, fanned by strong wind.

Started on Wednesday, the fire has killed two people and caused many residents to evacuate.

July 30 (Reuters) - The amount of ammonium nitrate that blew up at Beirut port last year was one fifth of the shipment unloaded there in 2013, the FBI concluded after the blast, adding to suspicions that much of the cargo had gone missing.

As the first anniversary approaches on Aug. 4, major questions remain unanswered, including how a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate - which can be used to make fertiliser or bombs - was left unsafely stored in a capital city for years.

BEIRUT, July 30 (Reuters) - Lebanon's President Michel Aoun told the country's public prosecutor on Friday he was ready to give a statement about last year's port blast in the capital Beirut if needed.

"No one is above the law no matter how high up, and justice can only be achieved through the specialised judicial branches that provide guarantees," Aoun told prosecutor Ghassan Ouidat during a meeting,according to a statement released by the president's office.

BEIRUT, July 29 (Reuters) - Ibrahim Hoteit lost his younger brother, Tharwat, in the huge explosion that ripped through the port of Beirut last August. He went around hospitals collecting body parts, starting with Tharwat's scalp, and buried his remains in a small coffin.

Nearly a year later, Hoteit, a spokesperson for families of more than 200 people who died in the disaster, is still trying to call to account those he says are responsible for allowing the accident to happen.

28 July 2021; MEMO: Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati today said that he hoped to form a government in the "near future", Reuters reports.

BEIRUT, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) signed on Tuesday an agreement to expand support for the solid waste management in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

According to the agreement, the KFAED will provide 2.5 million U.S. dollars to support the UNDP in Lebanon in addressing this country's mounting waste management challenges.