Beirut Sees Popular Rallies in Memory of Blast Victims, Calls for Accountability

 Families of several victims carry pictures of their relatives in a protest in Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Families of several victims carry pictures of their relatives in a protest in Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Beirut Sees Popular Rallies in Memory of Blast Victims, Calls for Accountability

 Families of several victims carry pictures of their relatives in a protest in Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Families of several victims carry pictures of their relatives in a protest in Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Grief and rage filling the families of victims of the Beirut port explosion is eclipsing any kind of positivity drawn from economic activity returning to the harbor.

Two years after the largest non-nuclear explosions in history ripped through the Levantine country’s capital, Lebanese people are angered by the impunity given to the corrupt. To date, some port blast victims are still languishing in hospitals to treat their injuries.

While Lebanese authorities have been trying to manage the economic ramifications of the port explosion, humanitarian associations and international organizations have been working on rebuilding the homes, hospitals and schools damaged by the blast.

Although some families have been able to return to their homes near the port, authorities and organizations working on recovery from the blast have failed to secure the course of justice and accountability.

The justice track has been crippled by political and local disputes. Many are accusing authorities of politicizing the port blast’s judicial file.

These facts led several residents and activists to support the families of those who perished in the blast, especially as they mark the second anniversary of the port explosion on Thursday.

It is noteworthy that the blast had killed 224 people and injured over 6,500, according to statistics gathered by the victims’ families committee. The explosion had a devastating effect on the capital.

According to authorities, the explosion was caused by the improper storage of tons of ammonium nitrate, the ignition of which led to the devastating blast. It was later revealed that several officials were aware that the explosive material was not being stored safely but stood idly.

At least three rallies have been organized in memory of the blast victims. The three demonstrations are set to converge at the “Statue of The Immigrant,” a monument in Beirut.

The popular mobilization aims to remind everyone that authorities have failed to carry out their duties and did not hold those responsible for the explosion accountable.

So far, attempts to bring an international fact-finding committee to take over the investigation into the port explosion have failed.

More than fifty Lebanese and international organizations and the families of the victims called in mid-June 2021 for the Human Rights Council to “establish an international, independent and impartial investigation mission,” but their request has fallen on deaf ears.

Domestically, the legal process of achieving justice underwent two phases.

The justice minister appointed Judge Fadi Sawan head investigator shortly after the blast. Sawan charged three ex-ministers and then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab with negligence over the blast in December, 2020, but then hit strong political pushback.

A court removed him from the case in February, 2021 after two of the ex-ministers - Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeitar - complained he had overstepped his powers.

Judge Tarek Bitar was appointed to replace Sawan. He sought to interrogate senior figures including Zeitar and Khalil, both of them members of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement and allies of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The Amal Movement, Hezbollah, the Marada Movement, and some Sunni figures are accusing Bitar of being politicized.

On the other hand, accusations of discretion levelled against Bitar stem from two facts.

The first fact is that Bitar has failed to summon former ministers of justice, despite knowing that their powers are just as much administrative as that of the minister of finance. Khalil had served as Lebanon’s minister of finance.

Bitar skipping the ministers of justice from his summoning had stirred tensions between the Amal Movement and President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement.

The second fact rests in prosecution against ministers and presidents not being within the jurisdiction of the judicial investigator.



Jerusalem Patriarch Hails Pope’s Commitment to Gaza

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa speaks during a press conference at the Latin Catholic patriarchate at the Old City of Jerusalem, 22 April 2025. (EPA)
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa speaks during a press conference at the Latin Catholic patriarchate at the Old City of Jerusalem, 22 April 2025. (EPA)
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Jerusalem Patriarch Hails Pope’s Commitment to Gaza

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa speaks during a press conference at the Latin Catholic patriarchate at the Old City of Jerusalem, 22 April 2025. (EPA)
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa speaks during a press conference at the Latin Catholic patriarchate at the Old City of Jerusalem, 22 April 2025. (EPA)

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, on Tuesday hailed Pope Francis's support for Gazans and engagement with the small Catholic community in the war-battered Palestinian territory.

The Catholic church's highest authority in the region, who is considered a potential successor to the late pontiff, Pizzaballa told journalists in Jerusalem that "Gaza represents, a little bit, all what was the heart of his pontificate".

Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, advocated peace and "closeness to the poor... and to the neglected one", said the patriarch.

These positions became particularly evident in Francis's response to the Israel-Hamas war which broke out in October 2023, Pizzaballa said.

"He was very close to the community of Gaza, the parish of Gaza, he kept calling them many times -- for a certain period, also every day, every evening at 7 pm," said the patriarch.

He added that by doing so, the pope "became for the community something stable, and also comforting for them, and he knew this".

Out of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox, but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.

Since the early days of the war, members of the Catholic community have been sheltering at Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City, and some Orthodox Christians have also found refuge there.

Pope Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war. The day before his death, in a final Easter message delivered on Sunday, he condemned the "deplorable humanitarian situation" in the besieged territory.

"Work for justice... but without becoming part of the conflict," said Pizzaballa of the late pontiff's actions.

"For us, for the Church, it leaves an important legacy."

The patriarch thanked the numerous Palestinian and Israeli public figures who have offered their condolences, preferring not to comment on the lack of any official message from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Even as "the local authorities... were not always happy" with the pope's positions or statements, they were "always very respectful", he said.

Pizzaballa said he will travel to Rome on Wednesday, after leading a requiem mass for the pope at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in the morning.

As one of the 135 cardinal electors, the Latin patriarch will participate in the conclave to elect a new pope.

Pizzaballa, a 60-year-old Italian Franciscan who also speaks English and Hebrew, arrived in Jerusalem in 1990 and was made a cardinal in September 2023, just before the Gaza war began.

His visits to Gaza and appeals for peace since then have attracted international attention.