Following a series of explosions in early August that killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 6,500, a fire broke out Thursday in the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on the western Mediterranean coast of the country, destroying its free trade zone and setting fire to thousands of food parcels and other relief supplies stored there by the Red Cross.
Beirut, Lebanon’s firefighters have now finally extinguished the blaze that broke out a day earlier in the port of Beirut, but thousands of food parcels and 500,000 liters of oil stored there by the Red Cross have been torched, our RFI French correspondent Paul.
Many locals are no longer willing to forgive their leaders, although the Lebanese president reacted quickly, calling a high-level defense meeting as soon as night fell, ordering an investigation and reorganizing the port’s management.
On social media, the Lebanese public expressed their anger and rumors continued to circulate. The Shia Druze leader of Islam condemned it on Twitter, accusing someone of trying to burn evidence to escape punishment. A member of parliament who resigned after the Aug. 4 series of bombings believes that the fires were set to prevent investigators from gathering more evidence.
There have been calls in Lebanese society and politics for an international investigation, but authorities have rejected them. Thursday’s fire has once again weakened Lebanon’s recently formed new government.
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