BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati commissioned Saturday Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdullah Bou Habib to communicate with Arab brothers to reassure them about the safety of their nationals in Lebanon.
In a statement issued by Mikati’s media office, the premier followed up with Bou Habib and Minister of Interior and Municipalities Bassam Mawlawi on the developments related to the “warning statements” issued by the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Germany for their nationals in Lebanon.
It added that available information reached after discussing with the military and security leaders revealed that the “overall security situation in general does not call for concern or panic”.
It noted that the political and security contacts on addressing the events of Ain Al-Hilweh camp of Palestinian refugees made progress.
The statement indicated that matters are currently under “close monitoring” to ensure general stability and prevent any “security infringement or targeting” citizens, residents, and Arab and foreign tourists in Lebanon.
Mikati asked Mawlawi to call for a meeting of the central security council to discuss “the challenges facing Lennon in these regional conditions to take required decisions so as to maintain security in all parts in Lebanon, it stated.
The refugee camp has been witnessing armed clashes between some Palestinian factions over a week that killed 13 people and wounded 60 others.
Three years after Beirut’s massive port blast, attempts to prosecute those responsible are mired in political intrigue and many Lebanese have less faith than ever in their disintegrating state institutions.
Meanwhile, Lebanon on Friday marked three years since one of history’s biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut. Yet nobody has been held to account as political and legal pressures suspend the investigation.
The blast killed at least 218 people and wounded more than 6,500, devastated large swaths of Beirut and caused billions of euros in damages.
The main activist group representing families of those killed called for a protest march on Friday afternoon, converging on the port.
“This is a day of commemoration, mourning and protest against the Lebanese state that politicizes our cause and interferes in the judiciary,” said Rima Al-Zahed, whose brother was killed in the explosion.
Since its early days, a probe into the explosion has faced a slew of political and legal challenges. In December 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence.
But as political pressure mounted, Sawan was removed from the case. The blast anniversary has also brought renewed calls for an international investigation of those responsible.
Lebanese and international organizations, survivors and families of victims sent such an appeal to the United Nations Rights Council, saying that “on the third anniversary of the explosion, we are no closer to justice and accountability for the catastrophe.” — Agencies
