BEIRUT: Reconstruction is progressing slowly in the area of Beirut devastated by the Aug. 4 explosion in the Lebanese capital’s port.
“The first obstacle hindering restoration work is financial. All private and official international bodies have no confidence in the Lebanese government so they’ve refrained from giving aid,” Jad Thabet, head of the Engineers Syndicate, told Arab News.
“Any plan assumes the existence of a government, and the international campaign we saw when the explosion happened has withdrawn due to the political situation in Lebanon. Unfortunately there’s total chaos,” he said, adding that winter will make matters worse.
“There are people who’ll be displaced and buildings that will collapse. The rain will wash away stones and soil, and block roads and sewers. There will be subsequent disasters for the people.”
The explosion of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in Beirut’s port since 2013 killed 195 people, injured about 6,500, displaced 300,000 and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage.
Thabet said he intends to travel to Paris in an attempt to urge UNESCO to provide assistance to Lebanon, but he does not expect much in light of his country’s political situation.
Many residents in Beirut are complaining about the lack of repairs to their damaged homes, and have no faith in the government.
There is also a lack of progress on the judicial front, with Judge Fadi Sawan saying he “hasn’t yet received any report from any security service that was carrying out investigations in the explosion site.”
Among the teams that helped with the investigations were a French one and an American one.
An FBI spokesman said earlier this week that it has not been concluded that the explosion was a deliberate crime. The FBI is helping with the investigations at the Lebanese government’s request, he added.
Sawan issued two arrest warrants last Thursday against the Russian captain and the owner of the ship that transported the ammonium nitrate to Beirut. The state prosecutor has asked Interpol to arrest them.
Ali Hinnawi, head of the Public Safety Committee at the Engineers Syndicate, said: “People need to return to their homes, livelihoods, work and interests. Is there anyone who listens and is aware of the importance of this?”
He added: “Social conditions are getting more difficult and winter is approaching. People are kept away from their homes due to negligence and mismanagement.”
Beirut reconstruction making little progress
https://arab.news/94qfa
Beirut reconstruction making little progress
- Many residents in Beirut are complaining about the lack of repairs to their damaged homes
- The explosion of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in Beirut’s port since 2013 killed 195 people
Jailed Turkish Kurd leader calls on government to broker deal for Syrian Kurds
- Clashes between Syrian forces and the SDF have cast doubt over a deal to integrate the group’s fighters into the army
ANKARA: Jailed Turkish Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan said Tuesday that it was “crucial” for Turkiye’s government to broker a peace deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Damascus government.
Clashes between Syrian forces and the SDF have cast doubt over a deal to integrate the group’s fighters into the army, which was due to take effect by the end of the year.
Ocalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, called on Turkiye to help ensure implementation of the deal announced in March between the SDF and the Syrian government, led by former jihadist Ahmed Al-Sharaa, whose forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad last year.
“It is essential for Turkiye to play a role of facilitator, constructively and aimed at dialogue,” he said in a message released by Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party.
“This is crucial for both regional peace and to strengthen its own internal peace,” Ocalan, who has been jailed for 26 years, added.
“The fundamental demand made in the agreement signed on March 10 between the SDF and the government in Damascus is for a democratic political model permitting (Syria’s) peoples to govern together,” he added.
“This approach also includes the principle of democratic integration, negotiable with the central authorities. The implementation of the March 10 agreement will facilitate and accelerate that process.”
The backbone of the US-backed SDF is the YPG, a Kurdish militant group seen by Turkiye as an extension of the PKK.
Turkiye and Syria both face long-running unrest in their Kurdish-majority regions, which span their shared border.
In Turkiye, the PKK agreed this year at Ocalan’s urging to end its four-decade armed struggle.
In Syria, Sharaa has agreed to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration into the central government, but deadly clashes and a series of differences have held up implementation of the deal.
The SDF is calling for a decentralized government, which Sharaa rejects.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country sees Kurdish fighters across the border as a threat, urged the SDF last week not to be an “obstacle” to stability.
Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that “all efforts” were being made to prevent the collapse of talks.
