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The LF denied any involvement and condemned the violence, which it blamed on Hezbollah "incitement" against Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator into the port blast, which killed 200 people, wounded thousands and devastated swathes of Beirut.
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Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said snipers had opened fire and aimed at people's heads. The Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally, the Shi'ite Amal Movement, accused the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party that has close ties to Saudi Arabia, of attacking its supporters, who were gathering to demand the removal of the judge investigating last year's port blast. At one school, teachers instructed infant children to lie face down on the ground with their hands on their heads, a Reuters witness said. They include Hassan Diab, the prime minister at the time of the blast.īitar's critics say he has breached the constitution by pursuing senior officials against whom any cases should pass through a special process for presidents and ministers.BEIRUT: Tensions over a probe into last year's massive blast in Beirut burst into the worst street violence in more than a decade on Thursday (Oct 14), with six Shi'ites shot dead and gun battles reviving memories of the country's 1975-90 civil war.īullets bounced off buildings and people ran for cover during bursts of gunfire which lasted several hours on what was once a frontline in the war.
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The US State Department has accused Hezbollah, which it deems a terrorist organisation, of threatening the judiciary.Īll the former officials Bitar has sought to question on suspected negligence deny any wrongdoing. This would be a major assault on "the separation of powers".įoreign states from which Lebanon hopes to secure aid have called for a transparent investigation into the blast, caused by a huge quantity of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate. The government does not have the authority to remove Bitar but could revoke a previous decision that transferred the probe to the judicial council, said Nizar Saghieh, head of the Legal Agenda, a research and advocacy organisation. Hezbollah was "showing its brute influence and force and that definitely reflects badly on Mikati government", added Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center. "It puts a huge question mark, or adds one, to the doubts that already everyone has concerning the viability of this government". Heiko Wimmen of Crisis Group said the row would "sap energy and it also makes (Mikati) look weak". But he doesn't have long, with elections due next spring. Mikati's priority is reviving IMF talks to save Lebanon.
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Mikati has previously said Lebanon could not bear the loss of a second judge after the first investigator was removed in February when a court accepted a complaint questioning his impartiality.
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Khalil told al-Mayadeen TV the path of the probe threatened to push Lebanon "towards civil strife". Khalil is the right-hand man of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and a close Hezbollah ally. The most senior politician Bitar has sought to question, former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, said all options were open for political escalation when asked during an interview on Tuesday whether some ministers could quit. The row has also underlined the major sway of the heavily armed Hezbollah group, which has called for Bitar to be replaced, accusing him of conducting a politicised probe picking on certain people. It is a big distraction that risks undermining Mikati, who took office last month after more than a year of squabbling over cabinet seats as Lebanon sank deeper into one of the world's worst economic depressions, analysts say. Ministers aligned with the politicians Bitar has sought to question were expected to press the demand for his removal at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, after the subject disrupted a stormy session on Tuesday.īut the session was postponed until a framework as to how best to tackle the row over Bitar would be agreed, an official source told Reuters. More than a year since the explosion ripped through Beirut, killing more than 200 people, Judge Tarek Bitar's efforts to hold senior officials to account for suspected negligence are facing mounting political pushback. Growing tension over a judicial probe into last year's Beirut port blast threatens to push Lebanon into yet another political crisis, testing Prime Minister Najib Mikati's new government as it struggles to dig the country out of economic collapse.