Lebanon’s Military Judiciary Takes Over Investigations Into Port Explosion

 A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
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Lebanon’s Military Judiciary Takes Over Investigations Into Port Explosion

 A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

The Military Court received the investigation case in the Beirut port explosion to conduct interrogations and issue arrest warrants against the suspects, until a forensic investigator is appointed over the matter and the case is returned to the Judicial Council.

In parallel, the State Prosecution gave instructions to the security forces to handover the detainees who are held pending investigation, to be referred to the Government Commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Fadi Akiki, to press charges against them and refer them to the Military Investigation Judge for questioning.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the military court received the case and that Akiki began studying the preliminary investigations and would press charges against the detainees and all the individuals who would be found involved, whether premeditatedly or due to their negligence.

Judicial sources also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the military judiciary investigations were temporary until a judicial investigator is appointed after the resigned government decided to refer the case to the Judicial Council.

While sources believed that the referral to the Judicial Council was aimed at blocking the way to the demands for an international investigation committee, which is rejected by the President Michel Aoun and Hezbollah, other observers noted that the Council taking over the issue would mean that the case was a “threat to the country’s internal security a disruption of civil peace.”



Israel Confirms Calling Up Reservists for Gaza War Expansion

Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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Israel Confirms Calling Up Reservists for Gaza War Expansion

Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Israel's army on Sunday confirmed it was calling up "tens of thousands" of reservists to expand its war in Gaza, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said.

"This week we are issuing tens of thousands of orders to our reservists to intensify and expand our operation in Gaza," Zamir said in a statement, adding the army would destroy all Hamas infrastructure, "both on the surface and underground.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials said.
In a video message posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel's main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss "the next stage" of the war in Gaza.
It was unclear if the ministers will give final approval at the meeting.
Already in control of almost a third of Gaza's territory, Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Ministers have justified the blockade by saying that Hamas has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its own fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied. At the same time, Israel has faced warnings of famine in Gaza as supplies run low.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week that a new plan was in the works by which aid will soon be distributed by private foreign companies, rather than UN agencies, in a new designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza area of Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks.
New aid plans will be discussed at Sunday's security cabinet meeting, two officials said.
Aid has been a contested issue within the Israeli leadership and defense establishment for months. The military has pushed back against calls by some politicians who want Israel to seize Gaza for good and have Israeli soldiers hand out aid.