The commission for establishing the operation of the Beirut seaport was organized following an emergency meeting of the Lebanese Supreme defense council on Thursday. At the suggestion of the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, it will be headed by the acting Minister of public works and transport, Michel Najjar.
"The purpose of the commission will be to organize on a new basis all the activities of the port and ensure security on its territory," says the decision of the Supreme defense council , which was presented to journalists by General Mahmoud al-Asmar. According to him, Aoun called on the security forces to take all measures to prevent any incidents in the harbor that endanger the lives of citizens. "The Supreme defense council decided to conduct an audit of all storage facilities at the seaport, as well as at the Beirut international airport, and get rid of materials that could pose a danger to people's lives," the General said.
In turn, the head of state, speaking at a meeting of the Supreme council, stressed that "the mistakes that led to the disasters [on August 4 and September 10] should not be repeated." "People are very concerned and waiting for answers to their questions," he said.
Reasons for what happened
A new fire occurred on Thursday on the territory of the port of Beirut, near the place where the explosion occurred on August 4. The new Director-General of the port authority, Bassem al-Qaisi, said that first on Thursday, the warehouses of the International Committee of the Red cross in the free trade zone on the territory of the port, where food kits and vegetable oil were stored, caught fire. From there, he said, the fire spread to neighboring premises where tires and fuel and lubricants were located. "While we can't say what caused the ignition: unusually hot weather or some technical error," he said.
Meanwhile, Aoun did not rule out that "the fire could have been a deliberate act of sabotage". In turn, Najjar voiced a version according to which the fire occurred when one of the owners of the warehouse premises used an electric saw during outdoor work. "Sparks rained down on the ground, where there was flammable garbage," he said, "And there was no fire extinguisher nearby."
US sanctions
The fire, which caused a second shock to the Lebanese, occurred two days after the US Treasury announced sanctions against former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and former Minister of public works and transport Youssef Fenianos. The former officials were accused in Washington of "providing material support to the Shiite Hezbollah party and participating in corruption schemes."
Al Akhbar regarded this move by the US administration as an attempt to disrupt the implementation of the road map for overcoming the crisis, which was developed during a visit to Beirut on September 1 together with Lebanese leaders by French President Emmanuel Macron. According to this plan, Mustafa Abid, who was appointed as the new Prime Minister of Lebanon, was to submit a list of the future government that would undertake reforms and reconstruction to the head of state for approval by September 14.
However, US sanctions seem to have alerted Lebanese politicians and forced them to make adjustments to their game. Thus, the Shiite Amal movement, to which Khalil belongs, announced that it would not adhere to the announced plan for rotating Ministerial posts and would retain the financial department, which it has controlled since 2016. Such a demarche may complicate the work of the new Prime Minister. As al Akhbar summarizes in this regard, Lebanon " is now between the French carrot and the American club."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS