Premier-designate Najib Mikati speaks from Baabda on Monday following his meeting with President Michel Aoun. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
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The death toll from Sunday morning’s fuel tanker explosion in Akkar has climbed to at least 33, including a child. Additionally, several of the more than 80 injured in the blast have been taken for treatment for serious burns and other injuries in Turkey and Kuwait. The tanker, which stored tens of thousands of liters of gasoline and diesel and had been confiscated from smugglers, blew up in the village of Tleil. Seven people are still missing. Meanwhile, three participants in protests related to the explosion remain detained in the police station in Beirut’s Achrafieh area, a lawyer from the Committee of Defense for Protesters told L’Orient Today, while one was released yesterday. The protesters had been brought in after they had stormed the residence of Akkar MP Tarek Merehbi and attempted to storm that of billionaire Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati following the explosion. Merhebi has reportedly sued undisclosed people for allegedly stealing credit cards, a hard drive and jewelry from his house.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army is raiding warehouses accused of hoarding fuel and distributing it to vulnerable local residents. Raids on warehouses in the Bekaa Valley areas of Baalbeck and Zahle as well as in Akkar came just a day after the fuel tanker explosion. In response to the tragedy, the Higher Defense Council ordered security forces and municipalities to take charge of fuel distribution throughout the country over the next month. The confiscated fuel is being distributed to some of the country’s most vulnerable institutions, including hospitals and bakeries, as well as fishermen and needy municipalities.
ٍSeveral areas in Lebanon are offline because of diesel shortages. The state-run telecommunications company, Ogero, announced yesterday that it had cut its services indefinitely in the areas of Barouk in the Chouf and Halba and Qobeiyat in Akkar after the company ran out of fuel to power its private generators in these locales. The blackout is the most recent instance of Ogero having to discontinue services due to the countrywide fuel shortages. Just last week, Ogero interchanges in northern areas ran out of diesel, leaving Akkar al-Atiqa, Bireh and Sir al-Dinnieh able to access services for only a few hours a day, when EDL power came on.
Prime Minister–designate Najib Mikati says the likelihood of government formation is higher than that of his resignation. Monday marked his 10th meeting with President Michel Aoun in Baabda since being designated premier late last month, and Mikati said that the two will meet several more times this week to iron out the obstacles preventing government formation. Meanwhile, Aoun said yesterday the government formation process would be finished within days. Earlier this month Lebanon entered its longest period without a cabinet as an independent state, as two former premiers-designate failed to agree with the president on the makeup of a government.