Beirut Port Blast Survivors Relive Trauma as Silos Burns

Smoke rises from the north block silos which were damaged during the August 2020 massive explosion in the port, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (AP)
Smoke rises from the north block silos which were damaged during the August 2020 massive explosion in the port, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (AP)
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Beirut Port Blast Survivors Relive Trauma as Silos Burns

Smoke rises from the north block silos which were damaged during the August 2020 massive explosion in the port, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (AP)
Smoke rises from the north block silos which were damaged during the August 2020 massive explosion in the port, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (AP)

Rita Qadan’s heart skips a beat whenever talks about how she survived the devastating explosion in Beirut's Port two years ago. And every time she sees the massive port silos, she is reminded again of her trauma.

The port’s grain silos destroyed in the blast — a massive, charred ruin jutting into the sky — has been burning for weeks after remnants of the grains that withstood the 2020 explosion started fermenting and ignited in the summer heat. The Lebanese government said last week the fire expanded after flames reached nearby electrical cables. Experts warn the structure could collapse at any time.

On that fateful Aug. 4, 2020, hundreds of tons of explosive ammonium nitrate improperly stored in the port for years, detonated, killing more than 200 people injuring over 6,000. Entire parts of the city around the port were destroyed in the blast, and the tragedy became a searing trauma on the psyche of the entire Lebanese population.

Today, Qadan still works as a concierge at a building in Beirut's Mar Mikhael neighborhood, where she has lived for decades, her small apartment tucked in the corner of the ground floor.

The area along Beirut's waterfront has a direct view of the port and the smoldering silos. The smoke brings back horrible memories, Qadan says as she waters her plants.

The stench, seeping into her modest two-room apartment, is dizzying, she says. “I just wear my mask and stay indoors,” Qadan told The Associated Press, her voice trembling. “I’m really scared that they could fall.”

Emmanuel Durand, a French civil engineer who volunteered for the government-commissioned team of experts, says the north block's collapse in the port is inevitable and just a matter of time.

In Geneva, he has been monitoring the tilting silos from thousands of miles away using data produced by sensors he installed over a year ago, and updating a team of Lebanese government and security officials on the developments in a WhatsApp group.

“Two weeks ago, the silos were tilting at 2 millimeters per day, and in the last week that has accelerated to 2.5 millimeters per hour, and that rapidly accelerates as the fire continues and causes more structural damage,” Durand told the AP. “It’s now ... a steady 6 millimeters per hour.”

Even before the fire, the northern block was on its last legs. “The fire is just finishing it off,” he said.

Durand first visited Beirut as a volunteer two weeks after the 2020 explosion, assessing damaged buildings with engineering students. He had no idea the port silos would later come occupy so much of his free time.

“I’m very wired with that particular site and with the country,” he said. “All this has been an emotional experience, but as long as nobody gets killed, I’ll be okay.”

From work, Mohammad Daife can also see the Beirut port silos. Daife, whose family-run company provides customs assistance to shipping clients, said he remained in shock for three months after the blast.

He closes his windows and keeps the air conditioner running to avoid the stench “We are very disturbed ... something could happen to our employees and families,” Daife said. “I don’t know what the government will do, but I hope they make a decision so this can end.”

Johnny Assaf can also see the silos from his small real estate agency. In the explosion, shards of glass from the windows pierced his back — one piece still hasn't been removed.

“Our fear is that it tips over, because we don’t what could happen to us if it did,” he said.

The Lebanese health and environment ministries on Monday urged residents in the area to close their windows and wear facemasks, offering instructions on how to clean dust from their cars and homes should the silos fall. But the residents are still fearful.

“My friends are leaving the area,” Assaf explained. “But there are people with nowhere else to go.”



Anxiety Rises in DR Congo Capital as M23 Rebels Advance in East 

Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Anxiety Rises in DR Congo Capital as M23 Rebels Advance in East 

Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

As Rwanda-backed rebels strolled through the streets of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's second-largest city, President Felix Tshisekedi's office claimed it was actually still controlled by his army and "valiant" allied forces.

It was the latest jarring move from the 61-year-old leader that has fueled a sense of worry and panic 1,600 km (1,000 miles) away in the capital Kinshasa, where some residents are looking to move their families abroad amid open talk of a coup.

"There was never any question of fighting in Bukavu. It was clear to all the people on the ground that the Rwandans and their auxiliaries were going to make their entry," said one army general who expressed bafflement at a statement issued by the president's office on Sunday.

Tshisekedi, he added, "doesn't have the right sources."

Anxiety is visible on the streets of Kinshasa as the army puts up limited resistance against the M23 group's advance and residents question whether Tshisekedi grasps the risk it poses.

Embassies have begun using armored vehicles for trips to the airport and sending some staff across the Congo River to Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo.

Three Kinshasa-based government officials told Reuters they were making arrangements to get their families out of the country.

Banker Matondo Arnold said he had already sent his family to Brazzaville after the rebels seized Goma, eastern Congo's biggest city, in late January. "We never imagined Goma could fall," he said.

As talk about a possible coup spread, Justice Minister Constant Mutamba said on X that Congolese "will not accept any coup that involves the Rwandan army to destabilize the country's institutions."

But even a member of Tshisekedi's Sacred Union coalition said the anxiety was unmistakable.

"Oh yes, it's panic. Some people are desperate and they are courting embassies" in search of an exit.

SUMMIT SNUB

This M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda's 1994 genocide into Congo and the struggle for control of Congo's vast minerals resources.

Rwanda rejects allegations from Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against the threat from a Hutu militia, which it says is fighting with the Congolese military.

As the hunt for a diplomatic resolution stalls, with Tshisekedi refusing to negotiate with the rebels, his camp faults the international community for failing to stand up to Rwanda by imposing sanctions.

"It's not a bad thing to refuse dialogue with an armed group like M23. The M23 is Rwanda," said a lawmaker close to the president. "Why doesn't the West do anything?"

Tshisekedi has skipped two African-organized meetings this month addressing the fighting - a joint summit in Dar es Salaam of Southern and Eastern African leaders and the annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

Instead, he travelled to the Munich Security Conference where he accused his predecessor Joseph Kabila of sponsoring M23's military campaign, which Kabila's camp denied.

The decision by Tshisekedi, who spent much of his life in Brussels, to fly to Europe drew derision from the Congolese political establishment.

"The fact that an African president snubs the African Union summit and prefers instead a security conference in Europe is indicative of who sustains him," said one former senior official.

Some members of Congo's fractious opposition are openly predicting Tshisekedi will not last.

"His lack of legitimacy is now proven, making him less and less listened to and more and more rejected by the population every day," said Olivier Kamitatu, a Kabila-era minister and spokesperson for opposition politician Moise Katumbi.

"Tshisekedi did not understand the issues of the country and the region. He did not have enough intellectual heft to lead Congo," said Martin Fayulu, who came in second in the 2018 election that brought Tshisekedi to power.

But it is unclear who could pose the most legitimate challenge to Tshisekedi, said Congolese analyst Bob Kabamba of the University of Liege in Belgium.

"With the capture of Goma and Bukavu, no one is sure of Tshisekedi's ability to control the security and political situation," he said.