BEIRUT: The judge investigating 2020’s massive Beirut port explosion on Tuesday requested that countries with satellites stationed over Lebanon provide authorities with images that could help their investigation, the state news agency reported.
National News Agency did not name the countries that Judge Tarek Bitar asked for images of the port before, during and after the blast.
Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrates — a highly explosive material used in fertilizers — had been improperly stored in the port for years.
The catastrophic blast on Aug. 4 killed 211 people and injured more than 6,000, devastating nearby neighborhoods.
Days after the explosion, President Michel Aoun said he had asked France, which has close ties to its former colony, for satellite images from the time to see if they showed any planes or missiles.
In the immediate aftermath of the blast, authorities did not rule out an attack, though no evidence emerged to suggest it.
Outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab had also said after the explosion that he asked French President Emmanuel Macron for satellite images of the port before and after the blast.
Nine months later, it remains unknown what triggered an initial fire at the warehouse that then caused the explosion or who was responsible for storing the rotting fertilizer at the port warehouse for years.
Bitar was named to lead the investigation in February after his predecessor was removed following legal challenges by two former Cabinet ministers he had accused of negligence. The news agency said Bitar will soon begin questioning witnesses whose testimonies were not taken before. It gave no further details.
In mid-April, Bitar ordered the release of six people, including security officers, who had been detained for months. Among those released was an officer who had written a detailed warning to top officials prior to the explosion about the dangers of the material stored at the port.
Nineteen people, including port officials and the head of the customs department, remain in custody.
Human Rights Watch said Lebanese authorities have failed to detail the evidence and charges against the individuals detained, questioning if they were afforded due process.
Lebanon request satellite images for site of Beirut blast
https://arab.news/6mqcc
Lebanon request satellite images for site of Beirut blast
- National News Agency did not name the countries that Judge Tarek Bitar asked for images of the port before, during and after the blast
- Days after the explosion, President Michel Aoun asked France for satellite images from the time to see if they showed any planes or missiles
Arab, Muslim countries slam US ambassador’s remarks on Israel’s right to Middle East land
- The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory”
JERUSALEM: Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint condemnation on Sunday of remarks by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson.
In an episode released Friday, Carlson pushed Huckabee on the meaning of a biblical verse sometimes interpreted as saying that Israel is entitled to the land between the river Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq.
In response, Huckabee said: “It would be fine if they took it all.”
When pressed, however, he continued that Israel was “not asking to take all of that,” adding: “It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement.”
The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments — alongside three major regional organizations — issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory.”
The statement, released by the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry, was signed by the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the State of Palestine, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
They said the comments contravene the UN Charter and efforts to de-escalate the Gaza war and advance a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement.
Iran joined the chorus with its foreign ministry accusing Huckabee on X of revealing “American active complicity” in what it called Israel’s “expansionist wars of aggression” against Palestinians.
Earlier, several Arab states had issued unilateral condemnations.
Saudi Arabia described the ambassador’s words as “reckless” and “irresponsible,” while Jordan said it was “an assault on the sovereignty of the countries of the region.”
Kuwait decried what it called a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law,” while Oman said the comments “threatened the prospects for peace” and stability in the region.
Egypt’s foreign ministry reaffirmed “that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or any other Arab lands.”
The Palestinian Authority said on X that Huckabee’s words “contradict US President Donald Trump’s rejection of (Israel) annexing the West Bank.”
On Saturday, Huckabee published two posts on X further clarifying his position on other topics touched upon in the interview, but did not address his remark about the biblical verse.
The speaker of the Israeli parliament, Amir Ohana, praised Huckabee on X for his general pro-Israel stance in the interview, and accused Carlson of “falsehoods and manipulations.”
Carlson has recently found himself facing accusations of antisemitism, particularly following a lengthy, uncritical interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes — a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal.
