Three Years After Beirut Blast, Still No Justice for the Victims

On August 4, 2020, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrates stored carelessly in Hangar #12 at the Port of Beirut exploded. The catastrophe resulted in 236 dead, 6,000 wounded, and $15 billion in property damage. In addition, 300,000 people were left homeless. Yet nothing has been done to bring those responsible to justice, even though everyone knows who they are — the members of the terror group Hezbollah. More on the blast and its aftermath can be found here: “Three years after massive Beirut port blast, probe still blocked by intrigue,” by Bassem Mroue and Lujain Jo, Times of Israel, August 4, 2023:

Three years after Beirut’s massive port blast, attempts to prosecute those responsible are mired in political intrigue, the final death toll remains disputed and many Lebanese have less faith than ever in their disintegrating state institutions.

Hezbollah is the strongest military force in Lebanon, more powerful than the Lebanese Army, and anyone who stands against the terror group, including especially those investigating the Beirut blast, are in in danger of being murdered. Even a prime minister is not immune — in 2005, Hezbollah blew up a former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri (and 21 others) with a suicide truck bomb. Hariri was regarded by the Iranian-Syrian axis of being a threat to Shi’a dominance in Lebanon; Hezbollah, carrying out the wishes of its foreign masters, decided to get rid of the leading Sunni politician in Lebanon who, with his close ties to Saudi Arabia, was seen as s threat to the Shia terror group’s dominance.

As the country marks the anniversary Friday, relatives of some of those killed are still struggling to get their loved ones recognized as blast victims, reflecting the ongoing chaos since the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion. The blast killed at least 218 people [the real figure is 236 killed], according to an Associated Press count, wounded more than 6,000, devastated large swaths of Beirut, and caused billions of dollars [$15 billion dollars]

The investigating judge in the Beirut blast case is Tarek Bitar, who has been the object of repeated threats to halt his investigation; he determinedly plows ahead, an unusually brave man who must make do without the cooperation of other officials, or of ordinary citizens too terrified to testify against Hezbollah. How long it will take him to indict members of the terror group, when he has so little support from others, is unknown; he may be killed by Hezbollah operatives before he manages to secure any indictments. Another investigator of Hezbollah-linked of the blast crimes, which took place in in Buenos Aires, Alberto Nisman, was murdered the day before he was to prevent his findings.

Among those not recognized as a blast victim is a five-month-old boy, Qusai Ramadan, a child of Syrian refugees. His parents say he was killed when the explosion toppled the ceiling and a cupboard in his hospital room, crushing him. The parents have been unable to get the infant added to the official death list, a move that could have made them eligible for future compensation.

The Lebanese in charge of determining the victims of the blast whose relatives could receive financial compensation have proven themselves reluctant to include non-Lebanese; they don’t want to share the potential compensation with foreigners, which means mainly victims from among the one million Syrian refugees who during the civil war have flooded into Lebanon.

They [Qusai Ramadan’s parents] accused the authorities of discriminating against victims who are not Lebanese.

Meanwhile, the blast anniversary brought renewed calls for an international investigation of those responsible, including top officials who allowed hundreds of tons of highly flammable ammonium nitrate, a material used in fertilizers, to be improperly stored for years in a warehouse at the port.

Lebanese and international organizations, survivors and families of victims, sent such an appeal to the UN Rights Council, saying that “on the third anniversary of the explosion, we are no closer to justice and accountability for the catastrophe.”

The Lebanese who call for an “international investigation” of those responsible for the Beirut blast hope thereby to avoid the Hezbollah blocking of such a high-powered investigation may find that even if a UN body decides to take upon itself the investigation of the blast, Hezbollah will still have the power to terrorize potential witnesses, causing them to refrain from testifying, and preventing an investigation even by the UN from getting any farther than that conducted by the intrepid Lebanese judge, Bitar. Everyone in Lebanon knows who was responsible for the careless storing, over many years, of the ammonium nitrates that led to the blast in Beirut — Hezbollah — and everyone, too, is scared of being killed by the terror group if they dare to tell the truth about what they know. Three years have already gone by without a single indictment by the hardworking and admirable Bitar; as things have been, so they are likely to remain, as long as Hezbollah has the ability to instill fear and silence possible witnesses.

The Bidenites have remained silent on the matter. They’re missing a chance to score a point not just against Hezbollah, but against its indispensable backer, the malignant Islamic Republic of Iran. Here’s what they ought to say: “More than three years have passed since the gigantic explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020, when ammonium nitrates, poorly stored in Hanger #12 at the Port of Beirut, exploded, killing 236 people, wounding 6,000, destroying $15 billion worth of property, and causing 300,000 people to be homeless. The Hanger was owned by Hezbollah; as were the 2,500 tones of ammonium nitrates. The world waits to see if the people of Lebanon can free themselves from the tyranny of the terror group that has brought them so much anguish and despair.”

How about it, Bidenites? Can you summon up the nerve?