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.



Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building

A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
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Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building

A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP

The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza's civil defense agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children.

The army said in a statement that it struck the militants "inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity", and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which "targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic".

The army said that "the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks", and accused Hamas of "exploiting the civilian population as a human shield".

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the "massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia", calling for "serious international pressure" to halt Israel's widening offensive.

The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a "blatant war crime".

Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.

A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.

Israel resumed major airstrikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down.

It also conducted airstrikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defense agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camp.

Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by Gaza's health ministry on Tuesday.

In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.