Firefighters Douse Remains of Huge Beirut Port Fire

Smoke rises over Beirut's port area as seen from Sin-el-fil, Lebanon September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Cynthia Karam
Smoke rises over Beirut's port area as seen from Sin-el-fil, Lebanon September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Cynthia Karam
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Firefighters Douse Remains of Huge Beirut Port Fire

Smoke rises over Beirut's port area as seen from Sin-el-fil, Lebanon September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Cynthia Karam
Smoke rises over Beirut's port area as seen from Sin-el-fil, Lebanon September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Cynthia Karam

Lebanese firefighters and army helicopters on Friday put out the remains of a huge fire at Beirut Port that angered citizens who remain in shock a month after a massive blast devastated the port and the surrounding area.

Thursday's fire, which officials said was sparked by welding during repair work after last month's port explosion, covered several districts of Beirut in a huge cloud of black, acrid smoke, causing panic in a city still on edge after the massive Aug. 4 blast.

Interim port chief Bassem al-Kaissi told a local TV station that the fire "started with oil containers before moving on to tires.”

The civil defense said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the flames on Friday morning after working through the night, and were cooling the site to avoid it flaring up again.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said at a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council held at Baabda Palace on Thursday night that the fire could have been caused by sabotage, technical error or negligence. He called for a swift investigation.

Thursday's blaze comes just two days after another smaller fire at the port, which the army said took hold of a mix of rubbish, wood and old tires.

Many Lebanese are frustrated that they have yet to be told about any initial findings from an investigation into last month's explosion that killed about 190 people and injured 6,000, and ravaged tens of thousands of homes.

On Thursday, the lead investigating judge listened to the testimonies of caretaker transport and public works minister Michel Najjar and State Security agency head Tony Saliba, the National News Agency said.

The authorities have so far arrested 25 suspects.

Lebanon has rejected an international investigation into the explosion, but its probe is being aided by foreign experts, including from the American FBI and France.

The government resigned after the port blast, and Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib is racing to form a new cabinet by early next week to meet a two-week deadline agreed under French pressure.



Behind Israel's Support for the Druze Lies Goal to Weaken Syria

Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
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Behind Israel's Support for the Druze Lies Goal to Weaken Syria

Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israeli Druze look over the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, from its Israeli side at Majdal Shams, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon

Israel's stated commitment to defending the Syrian Druze is, by the admission of some of its leaders, consistent with a long-term strategic goal -- the weakening of Syria.
Israel, which has occupied part of Syrian territory since 1967, claimed to be protecting the Druze minority to justify several strikes following recent, bloody inter-communal clashes in Syria.

In the aftermath of one strike near the Presidential Palace in Damascus on May 3, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the bombardment should serve as a "clear message".

"We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," he said.

In March, Israel had threatened to intervene if the new government that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad "touched the Druze".

However, according to Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at King's College London, Israel is not motivated by "altruistic concerns" and is "obviously now using (the minority group) as some sort of pretext to justify their military occupation of parts of Syria".

In a speech last month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hinted at the government's intentions, saying the war in Gaza against Hamas would end when "Syria is dismantled", among other goals.

The country's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has confirmed that indirect talks with Israel have taken place "to contain the situation". When questioned by AFP, Israeli diplomats declined to comment.

-'Druze autonomy'-

Entangled in a war with Hamas that has spilled over Israel's borders, Netanyahu has insisted the country is in a fight for its survival and that he is determined to "change the Middle East".

In 2015, while a member of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, advocated the division of Syria into various ethno-religious entities, envisaging "Druze autonomy in southern Syria".

The plan was reminiscent of the division of Syria imposed between the two world wars by France, then the mandatory power. Paris ultimately had to abandon the scheme under pressure from Syrian nationalists, including among the Druze.

Israel's largest neighbor, Damascus fought in three Arab-Israeli wars -- in 1948-1949, June 1967, and October 1973.

The last war cemented Israel's control over most of the Golan Heights, territory which it conquered from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Following Assad's overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Golan and carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria.

It said its aim was to prevent the transfer of weapons to the new government in Damascus towards which it is openly hostile.

The Druze, followers of a religion that split from Shiite Islam, are mainly found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

In its official figures, Israel counts around 152,000 Druze, though that includes 24,000 who live in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, of whom fewer than five percent have Israeli citizenship.

Countering Türkiye
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 126 people were killed during clashes with government security forces last week in predominantly Druze and Christian areas near Damascus and in the Druze stronghold of Suweida in the far south.

After these clashes, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, a Syrian Druze religious leader, called for the deployment of an international protection force and endorsed a community statement asserting that the Druze were "an inalienable part" of Syria.

Within Israel, Druze took part in several demonstrations demanding that the government defend members of their religion in Syria.

While most Druze in the Golan continue to identify as Syrian, the Israeli Druze population has been loyal to the State of Israel since its creation in 1948 and the group is over-represented in the army and police.

"The State of Israel feels indebted to the Druze and their exceptional commitment to the Israeli army," said Efraim Inbar, a researcher at the INSS.

According to Inbar, defending the Druze is also part of the new post-Assad geopolitical landscape in which Israel "is trying to protect the Druze and Kurdish minorities from the Sunni majority and prevent Türkiye from extending its influence to Syria".

In contrast to Israel, Ankara, grappling with its own Kurdish problem, supports the new authorities in Damascus and is keen to prevent the Kurds from consolidating their positions in northeastern Syria, along its border.