A glimmer of hope for the Lebanese? While the investigation into the causes of the explosion of the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, which left more than 235 dead, 7,000 injured and countless damage, had been referred to the Greek calendars, the judge in charge of the case resumed service. Leaving an interminable impasse, Tarek Bitar was able to audition on February 7, three officials of the port, a customs employee and the manager of a company in charge of maintenance and securing the famous hangar n ° 12 which contained the 2,750 tonnes nitrate of ammonium.
None of these accused has used excessive appeal against the investigating judge. Although the interrogation was held behind closed doors, an article of The East day has Learned that it has been focused in particular on the security and security of the port enclosure at the time of unloading the chemical in 2013. Most of the auditioned people were nevertheless represented by their lawyers because of their justified absences for medical or professional reasons. Only the Ukrainian owner of Savaro, the importing company of the ammonium nitrate, Vladimir Verbonol, has not appeared. Other hearings are scheduled for February, including the former president and member of the Higher Customs Council, the current managing director of customs or even general security officers.
Tarek Bitar fought to get there. In January 2023, Ghassan Oueidate, the former head of the cassation prosecution and close to a person to be auditioned, had caused a freeze on investigations, by prohibiting the security services from complying with the judge’s instructions, thus preventing the latter from notifying convocations and arrest warrants to the people involved in the case – among whom are political leaders.
Armed clashes
In addition, in August 2022, the former leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, had demanded that judge Bitar withdraw from the case on the explosion of the port of Beirut. The secretary general of the Pro-Iranian party had also accused the magistrate of being in the pay of the Americans to attack his movement. In September 2021, the head of the Hezbollah security apparatus had transmitted an ultimatum to Judge Bitar by message.
“We are tired of you. We will go to the end with the legal means, and if it does not work, we will unlock you ”he had threatened. In October of the same year, when the magistrate was to audition members of the Shiite party, the supporters of Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and the Syrian PRO Christian Party Marada went down to the streets of the Lebanese capital to demonstrate before the courthouse. Beirut was the scene of armed clashes, killing several people.
The powerful Hezbollah therefore tried to stifle the case to prevent the investigators from making the link between the party of God and the storage of ammonium nitrate. Besides, it is the intellectual and fierce opposing Hezbollah, Lokman Slim, who was one of the first to evoke it. A month after his interview with the Saudi channel Al-Hadath, in January 2021, he was assassinated in South Lebanon in a stronghold of the Pro-Iranian organization.
The responsibility of the old Syrian regime
The August 2021 report, 127 pages published by Human Rights Watch, entitled “They killed us from the inside: an investigation into the august 4 beirut blast” (“They killed us from the inside: an investigation into the explosion of August 4, 2020 in Beirut”), comes up in detail on the origin and responsibilities of this tragedy. Initially intended for Biera, Mozambique, the ammonium nitrate had been transported by the Rhosus cargo cargo, a shipping ship, owned by the Russian businessman Igor Grechkin. Immobilized in Lebanese waters, the ship is forced to abandon its cargo: 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which will be stored in the famous hangar n ° 12 of the port.
The survey also highlights the fact that several senior Lebanese officials were fully informed of the dangers linked to this substance, without taking action to prevent disaster. Among them, former president Michel Aoun, former Prime Minister Hassan Diab, the director general of state security, General Tony Saliba, the former Lebanese army commander, General Jean Kahwaji, as well as several former ministers, notably Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Fenianos.
But the investigation does not stop there. Firas Hatoum, a Lebanese investigation journalist, had revealed in January 2021 on the Al-Jadeed channel new disturbing elements. According to his research, syro-Russian businessmen close to the old regime of Bashar El-Assad would have sought to obtain ammonium nitrate for military purposes, with the complicity of Hezbollah. He demonstrates that the Savaro company, officially responsible for ordering the chemical, was in reality only a screen company. His address corresponded to that of two other companies, Hesco Engineering and Construction and IK Petroleum, directed respectively by billionaire George Haswani and the brothers Imad and Mudalal Khoury. These three men were also sanctioned by the US Treasury for their financial support for the Syrian regime.
Against winds, judge Tarek Bitar hopes to carry out his investigation and finally do justice to the beendowed beiruts, more than four and a half after the drama.
