Lebanese MP Says Assad Associates Imported Chemicals Behind Beirut Port Blast

A massive explosion at the Beirut Port on August 4 killed more than 200 people and laid waste to large swathes of the Lebanese capital. AFP file photo
A massive explosion at the Beirut Port on August 4 killed more than 200 people and laid waste to large swathes of the Lebanese capital. AFP file photo
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Lebanese MP Says Assad Associates Imported Chemicals Behind Beirut Port Blast

A massive explosion at the Beirut Port on August 4 killed more than 200 people and laid waste to large swathes of the Lebanese capital. AFP file photo
A massive explosion at the Beirut Port on August 4 killed more than 200 people and laid waste to large swathes of the Lebanese capital. AFP file photo

Syrians close to President Bashar al-Assad have brought the dangerous chemicals that exploded on August 4 at the Beirut Port, member of the Strong Republic parliamentary bloc MP Maged Eddy Abillama said Sunday.

The MP said he has informed the public prosecutor about the information he has to support the ongoing investigation into the devastating explosion.

Abillama said he will reveal more information on Tuesday.

“I will visit, with the head of the Change Movement, lawyer Elie Mahfoud, the office of the public prosecutor to file a complaint over the crime of the Beirut Port blast,” he said in a television interview.

“The Syrian regime benefited from its proxies in Lebanon to place the ammonium nitrate at the Port of Beirut. The judiciary should assume its responsibilities,” he said.

The deputy said every party linked to the explosion should be punished.

“We should gather all information that reveals what happened and hold those who destroyed Beirut accountable,” Abillama added.

More than five months after the blast, little light has been shed on the circumstances that led to Lebanon's worst peacetime disaster, which is widely blamed on decades of negligence and corruption by the country's ruling elite.

The slow pace of the investigation has sparked outrage at home and fueled distrust among international donors, whose support is much needed if Lebanon is to stand a chance of surviving its deepest economic crisis in decades.



UN Chief Urges Yemen's Houthis to Release Aid Workers

(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
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UN Chief Urges Yemen's Houthis to Release Aid Workers

(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
(FILES) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday demanded Yemen's Houthis to release dozens of aid workers, including UN staff, a year after their arrest.

The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of the war-torn country, detained 13 UN personnel and more than 50 employees of aid groups last June, AFP reported.

"I renew my call for their immediate and unconditional release," Guterres said in a statement issued by the office of his special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.

"The UN and its humanitarian partners should never be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their mandates for the benefit of the people they serve," he added.

The Houthis at the time claimed an "American-Israeli spy cell" was operating under the cover of aid groups -- an accusation firmly rejected by the UN.

Guterres also lamented the "deplorable tragedy" of the death in detention of a World Food Program staffer in February.