Tension over Beirut blast probe nudges Lebanon into new crisis
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[October 13, 2021]
By Maha El Dahan and Laila Bassam
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Growing tension over a
judicial probe into last year's Beirut port blast threatens to push
Lebanon into yet another political crisis, testing Prime Minister Najib
Mikati's new government as it struggles to dig the country out of
economic collapse.
More than a year since the explosion ripped through Beirut, killing more
than 200 people, Judge Tarek Bitar's efforts to hold senior officials to
account for suspected negligence are facing mounting political pushback.
Ministers aligned with the politicians Bitar has sought to question were
expected to press the demand for his removal at a cabinet meeting on
Wednesday, after the subject disrupted a stormy session on Tuesday.
But the session was postponed until a framework as to how best to tackle
the row over Bitar would be agreed, an official source told Reuters.
It is a big distraction that risks undermining Mikati, who took office
last month after more than a year of squabbling over cabinet seats as
Lebanon sank deeper into one of the world's worst economic depressions,
analysts say.
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The row has also underlined the major sway of the heavily armed,
Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah, which has called for Bitar to be
replaced, accusing him of conducting a politicised probe picking on
certain people.
The most senior politician Bitar has sought to question, former finance
minister Ali Hassan Khalil, said all options were open for political
escalation when asked during an interview on Tuesday whether some
ministers could quit.
Khalil is the right-hand man of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri - the
most senior Shi'ite in the state - and a close Hezbollah ally. Khalil
told al-Mayadeen TV the path of the probe threatened to push Lebanon
"towards civil strife".
Hezbollah and its Shi'ite ally Amal have pulled their ministers out of
government at times of political conflict, a move that would torpedo the
Sunni-led cabinet by stripping it of Shi'ite representation.
ENERGY SAPPING
Mikati has previously said Lebanon could not bear the loss of a second
judge after the first investigator was removed in February when a court
accepted a complaint questioning his impartiality.
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![](../images/101321pics/news_p31.jpg)
Demonstrators wave Lebanese flags during protests near the site of a
blast at Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 11, 2020. REUTERS/Goran
Tomasevic
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Mikati's priority is reviving IMF talks to save
Lebanon. But he doesn't have long, with elections due next spring.
Heiko Wimmen of Crisis Group said the row would "sap energy and it
also makes (Mikati) look weak". "It puts a huge question mark, or
adds one, to the doubts that already everyone has concerning the
viability of this government."
Hezbollah was "showing its brute influence and force and that
definitely reflects badly on Mikati government", added Mohanad Hage
Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
The government does not have the authority to remove Bitar but could
revoke a previous decision that transferred the probe to the
judicial council, said Nizar Saghieh, head of the Legal Agenda, a
research and advocacy organisation. This would be a major assault on
"the separation of powers".
Foreign states from which Lebanon hopes to secure aid have called
for a transparent investigation into the blast, caused by a huge
quantity of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate.
The U.S. State Department has accused Hezbollah, which it deems a
terrorist organisation, of threatening the judiciary.
All the former officials Bitar has sought to question on suspected
negligence deny any wrongdoing. They include Hassan Diab, the prime
minister at the time of the blast.
Bitar's critics say he has breached the constitution by pursuing
senior officials against whom any cases should pass through a
special process for presidents and ministers.
(Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by William Maclean)
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