A man surveys the destruction at the Port of Beirut. (Credit: João Sousa/L’Orient Today)
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Today marks six months since the catastrophic explosion at the Beirut port killed more than 200 people. The blast of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate injured over 6,000 and ravaged entire neighborhoods in the capital. With no officials yet held accountable, Human Rights Watch blasted Lebanese authorities yesterday for failing to deliver justice, “[reinforcing] the need for an independent, international inquiry.” The group said that serious “due process violations” have riddled the investigation, which has been stalled since Dec. 17 after two former ministers charged in the case filed a motion to replace the investigating judge, Fadi Sawwan. Sawwan, meanwhile, says he will put off work on the case until the COVID-19 lockdown ends. Despite the lockdown, some groups plan to gather today to mark the six-month anniversary, including at protests in front of the country’s justice palaces.
Lebanon has registered grim back-to-back COVID-19 death records after 89 more people died yesterday. The death toll since Jan. 1 has nearly surpassed the total number of fatalities in 2020, with patients flooding into intensive care units in hospitals across Lebanon. Certain hospitals have also been unable to secure supplies of some drugs due to a lack of so-called fresh dollars and difficulties with importing, asking patients to supply their own. With the lockdown set to expire on Feb. 8 and economic pressure mounting, Lebanon now finds itself “between a rock and a hard place,” the general manager of RUHU tweeted yesterday.
Lebanon is set to receive 340,800 COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZenca in the first half of 2021. The World Health Organization’s COVAX platform, which is distributing the doses, said the plan aims to cover some 3 percent of the population in the first half of the year, enough to protect the most vulnerable groups such as health care workers. It said more doses will be made available in the second half of the year. Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan has previously said that the first batch of COVAX vaccines will arrive at the end of this month, with Lebanon needing to secure millions more to accomplish its goal of inoculating 70 percent of the population by the end of the year.
Iraq has agreed to supply Lebanon with 500,000 tons of crude oil, with more quantities to come if a deal is finalized. Lebanon has been on the hunt to secure new sources of fuel after its contract with an Algerian fuel supplier, Sonatrach, ended on Dec. 31. With Iraq’s oil not meeting Lebanon’s specifications, outgoing Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar said that there are ways to work around the issues. The oil can either be refined in Iraq or swapped through an Iraqi company for fuel that fits the specifications of Lebanon’s power plants, according to the minister. However, refining Iraqi oil would come at a huge cost, experts have cautioned. Lebanon has been avoiding a blackout by importing four shipments of 35,000 tons per month from the spot market, Ghajar said, which must be paid for upfront in hard currency. The deal with Iraq now hinges on hammering out payment methods, he added.
Saad Hariri renewed his trips overseas, meeting with Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo. The talks between Lebanon’s premier-designate and Egypt’s president touched on developments in Beirut and the region, with Sisi reaffirming his country’s commitment to supporting Lebanon, Hariri’s office said. Hariri is reportedly attempting to shore up international support for Lebanon as the country reels under the burden of an unprecedented financial and monetary crisis. Almost six months without a fully functional government and more than three months after his nomination, the premier-designate has yet to reach a deal with President Michel Aoun over the size and makeup of the new cabinet. With the political crisis mounting, coupled with an economic free fall, Hariri will also reportedly make trips to the UAE and Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to resolve the deadlock.