A person lays flowers in front of portraits of victims of the twin explosions at the port of Beirut, during a monthly commemoration, April 4, 2024. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Four long years have passed since the deadly double explosion at the port of Beirut, which left more than 235 dead and 7,000 injured. Unlike in previous years, the commemoration of the tragedy is taking place today in a particularly tense context, marked by a threat of total war between Israel and Hezbollah. Several political and religious leaders have taken the opportunity to affirm that the port tragedy will remain a priority and to press for progress in the investigation, which has been at a standstill for several months because of political interference in the justice system.
A few hours before the gathering planned for Sunday afternoon in Beirut to pay tribute to the victims, L'Orient-Le Jour offers an overview of the political reactions, mainly focused on the call for a rapid relaunch of the investigation, under the total silence of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, some of whose big names are in the sights of justice in the context of this affair.
– Bechara al-Rai: The Maronite Patriarch, who has been pressing for years for justice to be done to the victims of the tragedy, renewed his pressure in this direction on Sunday: “We call for an end to political interference in the action of justice,” he said in his homily, pleading for an international investigation, “as long as the local investigation [led by Judge Tarek Bitar] is blocked.”
– Gebran Bassil: The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement considered it “obvious” that “there is a desire not to reveal the truth about the crime at the port. There is an insistence on not providing any information from foreign intelligence or satellite images,” he castigated on X. “At the same time, there is an insistence on blocking the investigation,” he added in an implicit dig at Hezbollah, with whom relations are not at their best because of the Lebanese presidential election and the war in Gaza. “Such a convergence of interests shows that the affair goes beyond simple neglect of duty,” Bassil said again, a few months after the release of Badri Daher, former director of customs known to be close to the FPM, detained for several years as part of the investigation. "We call on the judges involved in the case to do their duty and publish the indictment, instead of going home," Bassil continued in a message to Judge Tarek Bitar in charge of the case.
– Sleiman Frangieh: The leader of the Marada and candidate of the Hezbollah-aligned political blocs for the presidency wrote on X that “four years later, the wound is still open. The truth will certainly be reached in a responsible manner, far from any politicization.” These remarks come at a time when Youssef Fenianos, former public works minister from Frangieh's party, has refrained from appearing before Judge Bitar as part of the investigation and has filed an appeal for dismissal against him, accusing him, like the leaders of the “party of God,” of “politicizing the investigation.”
– Taymour Joumblatt: The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party pleaded for a rapid relaunch of the investigation: “It is time for justice to be done and for the truth to be revealed in the case of the double explosion at the port of Beirut, for the victims, the injured and all the Lebanese,” he wrote on his X account.
– The Lebanese Forces: Samir Geagea's party, which wants to be the spearhead of the political battle against Hassan Nasrallah's party, denounced on social networks that "they [the government] want to make people forget" Aug. 4. "But we will not forget."
– Kataeb: The same story from the Kataeb – who lost several of their leaders, including the secretary-general, Nazar Najarian, in the explosion. The leader of this party, Samy Gemayel, affirmed on Sunday on his X account that the crime will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. “You have left a wound in every house,” he said to the political caste. Earlier in the day, the party’s media department had published a statement stating that “it is the duty of every Lebanese to keep this cause alive in the consciences, despite all the attempts made by the forces of fait accompli, whether military, political or judicial, to stifle it and to muzzle the voices calling for the criminals to be punished.”
– Waddah Sadek: A member of parliament from the protest movement, wrote on the X platform: “We will not forget and we will not forgive. Despite their pride and their crimes, Aug. 4 will not go unpunished. One day, we will have a free judiciary that will render justice and punish the criminals.”
– Michel Pharaon: The former minister and MP for Beirut also reacted. “Aug. 4 comes back every year without reducing the anger and pain caused to Beirut and its people, without the investigation bearing fruit and without any interest from the international community,” he wrote on X, deploring the fact that Lebanon “has become a country where accountability has not existed for years.”
– Boulos Abdel Sater: A similar cry was launched by the Maronite bishop of Beirut who had also set himself up as the spokesperson for the parents of the victims of the tragedy. “Aug. 4 is not a simple commemoration. Especially since we have not forgotten it and we will not do so. It is an opportunity to remind those who escape justice, thanks to their [political] influence, that God will surely punish them one day,” declared the religious dignitary in his homily delivered during a mass celebrated for the occasion at Saint George Cathedral in downtown Beirut.
– The French Embassy in Beirut: On the diplomatic front, France, whose President Emmanuel Macron was the only head of state to visit the devastated capital two days after the tragedy, also called for the investigation to be relaunched. “Four years after the explosion of Aug. 4, 2020 at the port of Beirut, France remains in solidarity with Lebanon and the Lebanese people, whose call for justice and the fight against impunity must be heard,” can be read on the embassy’s X account.
– The U.S. Embassy: In turn, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut paid tribute to the victims of the 2020 cataclysm. “The U.S. Embassy team remembers the victims of the explosion at the port of Beirut,” can be read on the diplomatic mission’s X account. The latter also posted a photo of a clock set to 6:07 p.m., the time of the tragedy.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.