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Lebanon Patriarch: ‘God condemns officials’ who avoid accountability over port blast
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric on Thursday (August 4) denounced his country’s government for failing to bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast, marking the huge explosion’s second anniversary with demands for accountability, the Alarabiya English reported, citing Reuters.
Bechara Boutros al-Rai, in a mass commemorating its victims, said that “God condemns those officials” who were stalling investigations that the government “has no right” to block.
The blast at the port, which killed at least 220 people and was recorded as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, was caused by massive stores of ammonium nitrate kept at the site since 2013.
Two years on, no senior official has been held to account, the report said.
A domestic probe into the exact causes of the explosion - and who was responsible for or negligent regarding the ammonium nitrate’s presence - has been stalled for more than six months.
Lebanon is the angriest country in the world, followed by Turkey and Armenia
There is still no unified official death toll. Two security sources told Reuters that their counts were at least 220 dead, with at least 20 more people unaccounted for, mostly Syrian nationals.
Source: alarabiyaenglish
