Between the scattered and "forbidden" threads of the still-unfolding investigation, and the silos whose collapse makes the families of the victims of the "massacre" of August 4, 2020 feel like "pieces of their souls" are being scattered, Lebanon commemorated yesterday the second anniversary of the Hiroshima-like explosion that turned the capital into a "burning ground." "Beirut-ashima," the title that topped the front page of Al-Rai on August 5, 2020, and traveled through Arab and foreign press as the most expressive description of what befell "the lady of the world" on that terrifying Tuesday, was revived yesterday to mark the anniversary of the blood and destruction that remains an open wound that will not heal until the bells of a "justice" that have been "held back" by the bars of politics and its calculations are sounded, causing the truth and accountability to vanish from a "crime against humanity" that claimed more than 220 lives and left 6,500 injured, turning half of Beirut to rubble. "August 4... an explosion the size of a nation," is a slogan born not of coincidence, having been chosen to commemorate the explosion of more than 500 tons of ammonium nitrate out of the 2,700 tons that had been stored since 2013 in the Beirut port's Hangar No. 12. The smuggling of this substance in batches continues to remain part of the "black box" of a crime that shook the "global community" at the moment of its occurrence, a devastating earthquake that is feared to be referred to... to justice and fate.
The victims' families, who do not conceal their fear that the issue of truth and justice will become "familial" rather than "national," and who have yet to overcome the shock of the August 4, 2020 massacre or the planned and deliberate "killing of the investigation," recalled moments from that black day just before their marches reached the port area. They marked the falling of three additional silos as flashing memories, as if they were "before their eyes," remnants from the last "traces" of that massacre, where part of the remains of those who were shattered still linger around the silos - witnesses that refuse to become... martyrs.
Two slogans were raised in the three marches that launched from in front of the Justice Palace in Beirut, the "An-Nahar" newspaper building, and the Beirut Fire Brigade headquarters. During the marches, bloody white coffins were carried alongside photographs of the victims and gallows for "those who executed our children; we will not rest until they are executed. Otherwise, we will take our rights into our own hands, and we will pursue them to their homes... We will plant knives in their hearts, and their children are not dearer than ours." The two slogans were:
* The demand for an international fact-finding commission, and a call for the Security Council to "intervene in the case if the preliminary decision is not issued, and to form a credible commission to follow up on the investigation, and for a reliable independent international investigative committee to which the Lebanese government and the relevant parties should hand over the documents related to the explosion." This is particularly pressing as the work of investigative judge Tarek Bitar has been suspended since late 2021 due to lawsuits against him, and complaints filed by defendants, including current MPs and former ministers, resulting in criticism directed at French President Emmanuel Macron from in front of his country's embassy for failing to fulfill his promise to support a decision in the UN Human Rights Council to establish an international fact-finding mission. This request was reiterated yesterday by 11 human rights organizations, including "Human Rights Watch," to "determine the facts and circumstances, including the root causes of the explosion, in order to establish state and individual accountability and support justice for the victims."
* The second slogan was the rejection of "wasting our children's blood" a second time by allowing the silos to "die slowly" from the fires that they believe, at the very least, were left "to succumb to" to "get rid of them," insisting that the southern part of the silos, which is expected to "survive" the collapse, remain a monument to immortalize the memory of those who were "executed," claiming that "we will not allow anyone, at any cost, to enter the site of the fallen silos, as remains of our children are still present there."
As the families’ marches, wearing blood-stained white shirts, faced off against the parliamentary guard after some participants threw coffins at them, the guards responded with sound grenades to disperse them. The statements made internationally and locally during this commemoration reflected two things:
* First, that the external world still settles for "registering a position" without pressing for translations that would lead to achieving justice, which had already been regarded by decision-making capitals as one of the first indicators of reforms (through ensuring judicial independence) reflecting Lebanese seriousness in executing the technical reform criteria required for Lebanon to receive financial support contingent upon an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and donor countries—feeding the suspicions of those who believe there is a significant riddle behind "Beirut-ashima" that may never be unraveled.
* Second, the continued "fractures" within Lebanese affairs regarding an issue whose investigation has turned into a "spark" of a major political crisis that paralyzed government work for nearly three months due to Hezbollah and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's veto against Judge Bitar (who is pursuing most of the former ministers and MPs aligned with them) and their insistence on "stopping" him, which nearly spiraled into security chaos and sectarian strife.
Macron recalled August 4 in a statement published on social media yesterday, saying, "Two years after the explosion that occurred at the Port of Beirut, today marks a national day of mourning in Lebanon. With great emotion, I remember the shock that overtook me in August 2020 upon learning of this tragedy," adding, "On the day after the explosion, I was there, alongside the Lebanese men and women in the devastated streets of Gemmayzeh, witnessing the dignity and courage of the people despite their pain." Emphasizing that "justice must be served," he considered that "this tragedy was an indication of the multi-faceted crisis that Lebanon is experiencing," confirming that "the legitimate expectations for justice and reform must be met by the Lebanese."
It is known that the French president visited Beirut two days after the "Hiroshima of Lebanon" and returned at the beginning of September the same year, trying to push toward a political solution to the Lebanese crisis (following the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab's government), which had seen its financial dimensions explode months before, alongside the popular uprising of October 17, 2019 due to intertwined technical and political factors leading the country toward the Iranian axis.
While the "International Support Group for Lebanon" expressed concern over "the lack of progress so far in the judicial process concerning the explosion," urging "Lebanese authorities to do everything possible to remove all obstacles preventing a neutral, comprehensive, and transparent investigation," it was noted that "following the judicial process is a necessary requirement for restoring the credibility of Lebanese state institutions, ensuring respect for the rule of law, establishing the principles of accountability, and ending the phenomenon of impunity." The European Union mission in Beirut emphasized "the need to continue the investigation into the explosion without hindrance and free from political interference. The investigation must be fair, reliable, transparent, and independent. It should reach conclusions without further delay to reveal the causes of the tragedy and hold those responsible accountable."
Many of the victims' families stated that dozens of ambassadors met with them yesterday, "and we presented our demand for an international fact-finding commission to support the investigating judge, with the aim of reaching a result in the investigation."
On the Lebanese side, President Michel Aoun tweeted: "After two years of the tragedy of August 4, I share with the families of the victims and the wounded their grief, and with the families of the detainees their suffering. I assure them of my commitment to achieving justice based on complete truth, revealed through a fair judicial process that goes to the end, free from any falsification, selectivity, or injustice, to hold accountable all those proven to be involved, for no one is above the law."
Likewise, designated Prime Minister Najib Mikati tweeted that "it is a sad day that will not lighten until the full truth is known for the souls of the victims to rest in peace and the hearts of their loved ones to heal. The scales of justice will not be restored without punishing the criminals and exonerating the innocent, and there can be no resurgence of Lebanon without swift justice, no matter how long it takes."
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri also wrote on his Twitter page: "The August 4 explosion: a deep wound in the heart of Beirut that will only heal with the collapse of the silos of obstruction and the oppression of the state and law, and the crumbling of the silos of political and economic decay and the thrones of hatred and sectarian fanaticism. Justice for Beirut and its people and immortalizing the victims' memory above all else. We will not forget."
For his part, Berri considered that "the martyrs of August 4 are martyrs of all of Lebanon," reiterating "again and always that the path that inevitably leads to justice and the revelation of truth is the application of the constitution and the law, and we are all in dire need today to assume national responsibility." Meanwhile, "Hezbollah" recalled what we witnessed "over the past two years of a huge wave of intensive political and media campaigns that included false and fabricated accusations, and a considerable amount of incitement that led to dangerously tense internal conditions that nearly undermined the country's security and stability."
The party called for "an impartial, just, and transparent investigation according to legal standards and the consideration of the unity of criteria, away from political investment, sectarian incitement, and populist brinkmanship."
In parallel, Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, during a mass he presided over for the souls of the victims of the port explosion, raised "the voice of anger against all those responsible, whoever they may be and wherever they may be, those who obstruct the investigation, as if what happened were just a trivial and fleeting accident that does not deserve to be addressed, and can be dealt with by escape or settlement or bargaining, as they usually do in politics."
He asked: "We ask the officials in the state what more do they want from this crime to act? And what does the judiciary want more than this to rise for its dignity and regain its role and return to being the destination for the oppressed?"
He viewed "that we are today facing two crimes: the crime of the port explosion and the crime of freezing the investigation," considering that "freezing the investigation is no less severe than the explosion, as it is a deliberate act that has reached the level of instigating discord among the families of the victims." He pointed out that "there are those who resorted to the easy solution to evade responsibility for resolving the authority of the investigation, and that is a game of role distribution among several officials at various constitutional, political, security, and judicial levels."
He emphasized that "what is required is for the investigative judge to resume his work until the truth about the port explosion is uncovered," noting that "we do not accuse anyone nor do we absolve anyone, for the citizens want justice, and we refuse for some of the accused to be free while others are innocent and imprisoned."
He continued: "We know from experience about the politicized judiciary in Lebanon and have called since day one after the port explosion for an international investigation, as the crime could be against humanity if it is proven to be a premeditated act, and local investigation complications and political obstacles have granted the validity of renewing demands for international investigation."
He confirmed that "the state has no right to refrain from conducting a local investigation while concurrently obstructing the establishment of an international investigation," expressing amazement that "the port explosion crime is alien to the interests of the government, both before and after its resignation, especially since some of its ministers ignore it while others obstruct the course of justice unjustly."
Al-Rai remarked: "Do not obstruct the investigation with political pressure on judges and by not granting permits for prosecution regarding those wanted for investigation; do not disrupt the judicial formations of the Supreme Court by refusing to sign them out of the influence of political powers, and do not assault the families of the martyrs with beatings, detention, and interrogation under the pretext of demanding justice."
He also noted that "all disasters that occur in the world are preserved as part of historical memory, serving as a testament to what happened, and this is what the families of the martyrs have insisted upon regarding the protection of the silos from collapse as they are the living witnesses to the port explosion, dubbed the crime of the century." He questioned, "Why did you not seek assistance from neighboring and friendly countries to extinguish the fires in the silos, as if there is an intent to destroy them and erase the memory?!"
