It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Lebanese Doctor Races to Save the Eyes of Those Hurt by Exploding Tech Devices Elias Jaradeh, a legislator and an ophthalmologist, left, who has conducted dozens of operation for victims of this week's attack in Lebanon, makes an eye surgery operation for a man who was injured in the explosion of one of the handheld devices, at the Eye Specialist hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024
For almost a week, ophthalmologist Elias Jaradeh has worked around the clock, trying to keep up with the flood of patients whose eyes were injured when pagers and walkie-talkies exploded en masse across Lebanon.
He has lost track of how many eye operations he has performed in multiple hospitals, surviving on two hours of sleep before starting on the next operation. He has managed to save some patients’ sight, but many will never see again.
“There is no doubt that what happened was extremely tragic, when you see this overwhelming number of people with eye injures arriving at the same time to the hospital, most of them young men, but also children and young women,” he told The Associated Press at a Beirut hospital this past week, struggling to hold back tears.
Lebanese hospitals and medics were inundated after thousands of hand-held devices belonging to the Hezbollah militant group detonated simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, killing at least 39 people. Around 3,000 more were wounded, some with life-altering disabilities. Israel is widely believed to have been behind the attack, although it has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Although the explosions appear to have targeted Hezbollah fighters, many of the victims were civilians. And many of those hurt in the attack suffered injuries to their hands, face and eyes because the devices received messages just before they detonated, so they were looking at the devices as they exploded.
Authorities have not said how many people lost their eyes.
Veteran and hardened Lebanese eye doctors who have dealt with the aftermath of multiple wars, civil unrest and explosions, said they have never seen anything like it. Jaradeh, who is also a lawmaker representing south Lebanon as a reformist, said most of the patients sent to his hospital, which specializes in ophthalmology, were young people who had significant damage to one or both eyes. He said he found plastic and metal shrapnel inside some of their eyes.
Four years ago, a powerful blast tore through Beirut’s port, killing more than 200 people and wounding more than 6,000. That explosion, caused by the detonation of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrates that had been stored unsafely at a port warehouse, blew out windows and doors for miles around and sent cascades of glass shards pouring onto the streets, leading to horrific injuries.
Jaradeh also treated people hurt in the port explosion, but his experience with those wounded by the exploding pagers and walkie-talkies has been so much more intense because of the sheer volume of people with eye injuries.
“Containing the shock after the Beirut port blast was, I believe, 48 hours while we haven’t reached the period of containing the shock now,” Jaradeh said.
Jaradeh said he found it hard to dissociate his job as a doctor from his emotions in the operating theater.
“No matter what they taught you (in medical school) about distancing yourself, I think in a situation like this, it is very hard when you see the sheer numbers of wounded. This is linked to a war on Lebanon and war on humanity,” Jaradeh said.
Monday, August 26, 2024
Can Lebanon’s battered economy survive a war between Israel and Hezbollah?
BEIRUT (AP) — The ferocious exchange of fire by Hezbollah and the Israeli military is raising fears of a regional war beyond the tense border.
The risks for Lebanon are far greater than in 2006, when a monthlong war with Israel ended in a draw. Lebanon has struggled with years of political and economic crises that left it indebted, without a stable electricity supply, a proper banking system and with rampant poverty.
And with Hezbollah’s military power significantly greater, there are concerns that a new war would be far more destructive and prolonged.
Can Lebanon afford any of it?
Planning for a 2006 war repeat — or worse
Since Hezbollah and Israel began firing rockets and drones at each other a day after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, the conflict has been mostly limited to border towns. But with the threat of a wider war, Lebanon has scrambled to equip hospitals with supplies and prepare public schools to open up to people seeking shelter.
A rare Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander set off a flurry of meetings between humanitarian organizations and the Lebanese government, said Laila Al Amine, who heads the Beirut office of international relief organization Mercy Corps. It’s one of some 60 organizations helping the government with its relief efforts.
The government and U.N. agencies prepared a comprehensive response plan this month outlining two possible scenarios: a limited escalation that would resemble the 2006 war, with an estimated 250,000 people displaced, and a worst-case scenario of “uncontrolled conflict” that would displaced at least 1 million people.
The U.N.-drafted plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, projects a monthly cost of $50 million in case of a limited escalation and $100 million if an all-out war breaks out.
The Lebanese government said that funding for the emergency will come from creditors and humanitarian aid organizations. But the authorities have struggled to find money to care for 100,000 currently displaced and an estimated 60,000 people living in conflict areas, which is costing about $24 million a month.
Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is spearheading relief operations, told reporters after an emergency government meeting Sunday that the morning attacks won’t change the plan.
“It already presents scenarios of all the possibilities that could happen, among them is an expansion of the hostilities,” said Yassin.
Indebted and cash-strapped Lebanon desperate for aid money
Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanon’s banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. Public service institutions rely on aid groups and international donors to function at a barebones level. Lebanese who once lived in relative comfort are receiving food and financial aid to survive.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion flattened several neighborhoods in the heart of the capital. Lebanon’s banks and the ruling elite have resisted painful reforms as a condition for an International Monetary Fund bailout while the infrastructure continued to wither and living conditions worsened.
Tourism, which officials had relied on to help rebuild the economy, has also taken a hit since the border conflict with Israel.
And unlike in 2006, Lebanon is hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict in their country. Health Minister Firas Abiad told the AP earlier this month that the Lebanese health system is ill-equipped to treat the additional population in the event of an all-out war, as international funding for Syrian refugees continues to decline.
In April, Yassin said the country had only half the money needed to respond to the conflict and ensuing humanitarian needs.
Lebanon faces tougher logistics
In 2006, Israel bombed the runways of Lebanon’s only airport, putting it largely out of commission, and imposed an air and sea blockade. Its bombardment crippled critical infrastructure and flattened neighborhoods, with damage and losses worth $3.1 billion, according to the World Bank.
But aid groups eventually were able to send supplies through the country’s ports and at times through the airport using the remaining limited runway space. In their assessment of the war, the U.N. said that their relief efforts was not in response to a humanitarian crisis. “People did not die from poor sanitation, hunger or disease. They died from bombs and shells,” U.N. OCHA said in a report a month after the war.
Many Lebanese were able to flee to neighboring Syria, where an uprising in 2011 plunged the country into a civil war. It’s unclear how easy crossing the border would be this time, both for civilians and aid groups.
It is also unclear whether the Beirut port, still not fully rebuilt after the devastating blast in 2020, would have sufficient capacity in case of a wider war. Its damaged grain silos collapsed in 2022, and the country relies on minimal food storage due to the financial crisis.
“Lebanon apparently has stocks of food and fuel for two-three months, but what happens beyond this duration?” Al Amine said. “We only have one airport and we can’t transport things through our land borders. It would be difficult to bring items into the country.” An empowered Hezbollah
In 2006, Hezbollah reportedly had some 15,000 rockets in its arsenal, “but more recent unofficial estimates suggest this number has multiplied by almost 10 times,” said Dina Arakji, associate analyst at U.K.-based risk consultancy firm Control Risks.
The group has also “acquired more advanced weaponry, including precision missiles and variants of Iranian arms, as well as Chinese and Russian weaponry,” she said.
Hezbollah, which relies on a network of Iran-backed allied groups that could enter the conflict, has also substantially expanded its drone arsenal and capabilities, against which Israeli air defenses are less effective.
Lebanese officials and international diplomats hope that an elusive cease-fire agreement in Gaza will bring to calm in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
Associated Press videographer Ali Sharafeddine contributed to this report.
Left: The Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand hotel is seen, with a general view visible in the background, in Beirut, Lebanon, August 19, 2024. Photo by Amr Alfiky/REUTERS
Saturday, August 10, 2024
'SOUND TERROR'
Sonic booms – the psychological warfare Israel uses to sow fear in Lebanon
Since October 7, Israel has been using thunderous noise, triggering memories of Beirut’s devastating port explosion and spreading dread among the population.
An Israeli combat jet flies near the border with Lebanon on February 29, 2024 in northern Israel [Amir Levy/Getty Images]
Beirut, Lebanon – The first time Eliah Kaylough, 26, heard the thunderous blast, he was so terrified, he instinctively ran for cover. On Tuesday this week, he had just started his shift as a waiter at a restaurant on bustling Gemmayze Street in east Beirut when he was suddenly startled by the sound of a major blast.
For Kaylough, it immediately triggered memories of the massive port explosion in 2020 and he was terrified the city was either experiencing a new explosion or that it was under attack.
But as he was racing out of the restaurant, a man from a nearby shop stopped him and explained that Beirut wasn’t being bombed. The sound, Kaylough discovered, was a sonic boom, a thunderous noise caused by an object moving faster than the speed of sound.
Israeli jets have been increasingly triggering these sonic booms over Lebanon since October 7 last year, following the attack on southern Israel by Hamas. But the booms which sounded over Beirut on Tuesday were the loudest that had been heard in the city, several residents told Al Jazeera.
Kaylough said that it was the first time that he had heard one since Israel tends to launch sonic booms in other parts of the country and city.
“The sound was terrifying and I really thought we were under attack,” Kaylouh told Al Jazeera on Thursday evening at the restaurant, where he was back working a shift. “I remember putting on my hat and grabbing my bag and I was ready to close up shop.”
Since October, the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, and Israel have been engaged in a low-level conflict. On Friday, Israel stepped up its attacks, killing Hamas official Samer al-Hajj in a drone attack on the coastal city of Sidon, about 50km (30 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border.
Throughout the Gaza war, however, Israel has been launching sonic booms by flying jets at low altitudes over Lebanon in an apparent effort to intimidate and terrify the population, analysts and residents told Al Jazeera.
“We are concerned about the reported use of sonic booms by Israeli aircrafts over Lebanon that has caused great fear among the civilian population,” said Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher for Human Rights Watch. “Parties in armed conflict should not use methods of intimidation against a civilian population.”
Indeed, sonic booms heard earlier this week occurred just two days after the anniversary of the August 4, 2020 Beirut-port explosion, which devastated large swaths of Beirut, killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. The blast was caused by a fire in a warehouse where a stockpile of highly combustible ammonium nitrate was being stored.
Tuesday’s sonic boom was triggered just moments before Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was about to begin a speech. Last month, tensions between the foes escalated after Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s senior commander, Fuad Shukr, in Lebanon and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital Tehran.
Civil defence workers extinguish a fire in a car after it was hit by an Israeli strike, killing a Hamas official, in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon, on Friday, August 9, 2024 [Mohammed Zaatari/AP]
Systematic use of ‘sound terror’
The use of sonic booms is part of a broader trend of psychological warfare that Israel wages against the Lebanese population, according to Lawrence Abu Hamdan, a sound expert and the founder of Earshot, a nonprofit that conducts audio analysis to track human rights abuses and state violence.
Abu Hamdan said that since the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, which lasted 34 days and left 1,100 Lebanese nationals and 165 Israelis dead, Israel has routinely violated Lebanese airspace with its fighter jets to scare civilians.
“Since the truce of 2006, there have been more than 22,000 Israeli air violations of Lebanon. In 2020 alone, there were more than 2,000 [air violations] with no response from Hezbollah, Abu Hamdan told Al Jazeera.
Abu Hamdan believes that, since last October, Israel has also been using sonic booms as an “acoustic reminder that [Israel] can turn Lebanon into Gaza at any point”.
He said Israel’s increasing use of sonic booms reflects the escalation in conflict with Hezbollah over the past several months.
“There is an escalation and we are seeing that escalation in sound. The next phase to the escalation is, of course, material destruction,” Abu Hamdan said.
Beirut resident Rana Farhat, 28, said Israel’s scare tactics are having the desired effect. She heard the August 6 sonic booms while having dinner with her family at a restaurant in a town north of Beirut.
They were startled when they heard the sound of an explosion, but her parents tried to reassure her and her siblings that Beirut was not being attacked. Everyone quickly checked their phones to find out what was going on.
“We were all checking the news to see if it was an explosion or not,” Farhat, 28, said, while smoking shisha in a Beirut cafe on Thursday night. “There were little children in the restaurant and they were clearly scared. They don’t understand what such sounds mean.”
Recurring trauma
The murmur of fighter jets and other blast-like noises can re-traumatise populations that have survived previous explosions and wars, Abu Hamdan said.
Over the long term, recurring jet and blast sounds can even increase the risk of stroke and deplete calcium deposits in the heart, according to medical studies he cited.
“Once you have been exposed to [jet or blast] sounds that have produced the sort of fear that they have in this country, then whenever you hear it – even quietly – it will produce the same stress response [in an individual],” Abu Hamdan explained.
Kaylough said that the sonic booms he heard on Tuesday this week transported him back to the Beirut port explosion. That day, he was working in a mall when a sudden blast shattered the glass around him and blew the doors off the hinges of the store he was working in.
“The sound was so loud. I remember people were screaming, but I couldn’t hear them,” he told Al Jazeera.
After the initial shock, Kaylough felt a sudden pain and realised that a large piece of metal was wedged into his lower leg. He was rushed to hospital and eventually treated by doctors.
While Kaylough suffered no long-term physical injuries, he says the sonic booms are triggering the trauma he experienced that day.
“The [sound from] the sonic boom did take me back to the moment of the blast, but I’m just trying not to think about it,” he said.
Farhat said the sonic booms also remind her of the 2006 war.
At the time, her neighbourhood was not directly being hit, but she remembers watching coverage of the war on television with her parents. As a 10-year-old, she realised that the scenes of collapsed buildings and rubble she was seeing were being filmed just a short drive from her home.
She also recalls hearing the sound of Israeli fighter jets flying over Beirut to bomb the southern suburbs. While Farhat does not know if another war is looming over Beirut right now, she insisted that Israel’s scare tactics won’t compel her to leave her beloved city.
“They are just trying to scare us, but I take it as a sign of weakness,” she told Al Jazeera. “Whatever happens, I don’t want to leave home and I won’t. I was born here, raised here and I will stay here.”
As Lebanon continues to seek to rebuild the Port of Beirut almost four years after the ammonium nitrate explosion, France has come forward with a new proposal. At a conference in Beirut this week, Lebanese and French officials revealed the port’s reconstruction and re-organization plan.
The proposal aims to repair the damaged infrastructure, optimize the port layout for better traffic flow, and enable the transition to the use of solar power. However, the proposal does not address the rebuilding of the grain silos, which experienced the most impact during the blast.
Two French engineering firms, Artelia and Egis, were involved in the development of the plan through funding from the French government. Another French public agency Expertise France, conducted a study with recommendations on how to improve security at the Port of Beirut.
“The plan has been accepted and the port’s revenue will be used to finance the required investments,” Lebanon’s transport and public works minister Ali Hamie told the French newspaper Le Monde.
Restoration of the state’s infrastructure destroyed during the explosion is estimated at $60 to 80 million. However, this cost rises to $140 million while accounting for private companies' infrastructure which was impacted, according to a 2021 assessment by USAID’s Middle East Economic Growth Project.
With the restoration costs expected to come from the port’s revenue, Director General of the Port of Beirut Omar Itani noted that there have been several positive changes after the disaster. He highlighted that revenues increased to nearly $150 million in 2023 from a low of $9 million in 2020. The number of containers handled also rose to 800,000 TEUs last year from around 600,000 TEUs in 2022. However, this is still low compared to the 1.2 million TEUs that the port handled in 2019 before the explosion.
France was among the first responders, with President Emmanuel Macron visiting the country on August 6, 2020, two days after the explosion. At the time, Macron promised to rally international players for financial support to the Lebanese people.
This week, the French ambassador to Lebanon Hervé Magro reiterated France’s support for Lebanon. “The Lebanese economy needs a port that has been rebuilt, modernized, and made safe. The French government has made the issue of the port a priority and one of the pillars of French cooperation with Lebanon,” said Magro.
In 2022, CMA Terminals, a subsidiary of the ocean carrier CMA CGM won a ten-year concession to run and manage the Port of Beirut’s container terminal. The firm pledged to invest $33 million in the terminal, focused mainly on replacing, renewing, and purchasing new equipment.
Besides France, Germany in 2021 also presented a comprehensive proposal to rebuild the port, in addition to redeveloping more than 100 hectares of the surrounding area, including residential developments.
Sunday, March 03, 2024
ECOCIDE
Rubymar Sinks in Red Sea 13 Days After Houthi Attack Damaged Bulker
Rubymar was lost after remaining afloat for nearly two weeks (Government of Yemen on X)
The bulker several damaged in a Houthi attack and abandoned by its crew finally succumbed to its damage reportedly sinking after having drifted since the February 18 attack. The government of Yemen issued a statement reporting the sinking of the Rubymar followed by an update to its previous reports from the UK Maritime Trade Operations.
The attack was reported to have taken place in the range of 15 to 25 nautical miles from the Yemeni port of Al-Mukha. The UKMTO in its statement confirmed the vessel had been dragging anchor. Previous analysis reported by Sky News calculated the vessel had drifted approximately 37 nautical miles north in the Red Sea.
The Yemeni government statement said the vessel was lost as the weather deteriorated on March 1. Previously it was said the vessel was continuing to take on water and images released on Yemeni TV earlier in the week clearly showed that it was continuing to settle at the stern. The BBC had published pictures a few days earlier showing the stern still above the water. Efforts to salvage the vessel and tow it to a port possibly in Djibouti or Saudi Arabia were hampered by the security situation in the Red Sea.
The government statement reported the bulker Rubymar registered in Belize was lost in a position about 11 miles from the nearest point of land in Yemen. It is unclear if any crew or authorities were at the ship when it was lost. The crew was evacuated immediately after the attack and taken to Djibouti where reports said they were flown home.
“The Yemeni government holds the Houthi militia responsible for the environmental disaster, and the repercussions of its continued targeting of shipping,” the government said. They reiterated that the Rubymar was carrying 41,000 tons of fertilizer as well as oils and fuel. The U.S. Central Command a week ago highlighted an 18-mile oil slick formed behind the damaged ship.
The statement from the spokesperson from the Yemen government highlighted the danger coming from the phosphate and other dangerous chemicals saying it was likely an algae plum would form which could result in the death of the coral, kill marine animals, and possibly damage desalination plants in the region. They referred to the “recklessness and indifference to the catastrophic repercussions,” using the loss of the Rubymar to call for further international action against the militants.
The loss of the Rubymar would be the most significant casualty since the Houthi attacks began in November days after they seized the car carrier Galaxy Leader. UKMTO calculates a total of 55 commercial ships have been targeted by the Houthi. While they were also successful in causing a significant fire on the Marlin Luanda in late January, and multiple strikes on vessels, the 32,200 dwt Rubymar (564 feet/172 meters in length) would be the first vessel to sink. Reports have alternately linked it to UK ownership although the manager is based in Lebanon.
While most of the leading shipping firms have diverted vessels away from the Red Sea region, many ships are still operating in the area. This week the Houthi leader Abdul-Maliks said “We have a big surprise that the enemies do not expect, and we will indeed start it." He wrote on social media of the “greater effectiveness” of the operations while the group has vowed to continue in support of the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
British ship M/V Rubymar, crippled by Houthi strikes, sinks in Red Sea
Mike Heuer Sat, March 2, 2024 Cargo ship M/V Rubymar, carrying Ukrainian grain, is shown at anchor in the Black Sea in November 2022. The ship sank on Saturday after being crippled by Houthi attacks in February.
File photo by Tolga Bozoglu/EPA-EFE
March 2 (UPI) -- The British bulk carrier M/V Rubymar, crippled by fire from Houthi rebels last month, sank in international waters in the Red Sea on Saturday, Yemeni government officials announced.
The ship's sinking "will cause an environmental catastrophe" affecting Yemen's territorial waters and the Red Sea, Yemen's ad hoc Crisis Management Cell said in a statement reported by Turkey's Anadolu Agency.
The vessel was carrying 41,000 tons of fertilizer, and its sinking raises worsens what the U.S. Central Command called an environmental disaster caused by the "unprovoked and reckless attack by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists."
The ship was attacked in a missile strike launched by Houthi militants on Feb. 18, which caused a large oil slick and concerns that its cargo of fertilizer would create a catastrophe.
The Rubymar took on water following the attack and was awaiting a tow to the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah before sinking overnight. Its crew had abandoned the ship following the missile attack.
The Houthi militants are based in Yemen and are targeting cargo ships owned or operated by Israeli firms or that are carrying supplies to or from Israel in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea since the onset of the war in Gaza.
Joint strikes by the United States and Britain against Houthi targets recently caused the Houthis to declare all British and U.S. ships to be legitimate targets for military action.
After the Rubymar was attacked, officials in and around the ports of Aden and Djibouti refused to accept it. Oil spill, fertilizer leak from sinking of cargo ship highlight risks to Red Sea from Houthi attacks
JOSHUA GOODMAN Sat, March 2, 2024
In this satellite image provided by Planet Labs, the Belize-flagged bulk carrier Rubymar is seen in the southern Red Sea near the Bay el-Mandeb Strait leaking oil after an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and apparently downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)More
MIAMI (AP) — A vibrant fishing industry, some of the world’s largest coral reefs, desalination plants supplying millions with drinking water. They're all at risk from large amounts of fertilizer and oil spilled into the Red Sea by the sinking of a cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Officials on Saturday said the M/V Rubymar, a Belize-flagged vessel reportedly carrying 22,000 metric tons of toxic fertilizer, sunk after taking on water in the Feb. 18 attack.
Even before plunging to the ocean’s depths, the vessel had been leaking heavy fuel that triggered an 18-mile (30 km) oil slick through the waterway, which is critical for cargo and energy shipments heading to Europe.
Since November, the Houthi rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s offensive in Gaza. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, has warned in recent days of an “environmental disaster” in the making. That has less to do with the size of the vessel’s hazardous cargo than the unique natural features and usage of the Red Sea, said Ian Ralby, founder of maritime security firm I.R. Consilium.
Aggravating concerns over the Rubymar's sinking is the Red Sea’s unique circular water patterns, which operate essentially as a giant lagoon, with water moving northward, toward the Suez Canal in Egypt, during winter and outward to the Gulf of Aden in summer.
“What spills in the Red Sea, stays in the Red Sea,” said Ralby. “There are many ways it can be harmed.”
Saudi Arabia for decades has been building the world’s largest network of desalination plants, with entire cities like Jeddah relying on the facilities for almost all of their drinking water. Oil can clog intake systems and inflict costly damage on saltwater conversion.
The Red Sea is also a vital source of seafood, especially in Yemen, where fishing was the second largest export after oil before the current civil war between the Houthis and Yemen’s Sunni government.
Ralby has been studying the Red Sea’s vulnerabilities in relation to what could've been a far worse maritime tragedy: the FSO Safer, a decrepit oil tanker that had been moored for years off the coast of Yemen with more than 1 million barrels of crude until its cargo was successfully transferred to another vessel last year.
While the amount of oil the Rubymar leaked is unknown, Ralby estimates it couldn’t have exceeded 7,000 barrels. While that’s a mere fraction of the Safer’s load, it’s significantly more oil than was spilled by a Japanese-owed vessel, the Wakashio, that wrecked near Mauritius in 2020, causing millions of dollars in damages and harming the livelihood of thousands of fishermen.
Harder to grasp is the risk from the 22,000 metric tons of fertilizer that port authorities in Djibouti, adjacent to where the Rubymar sank, said the ship was transporting at the time of the attack. If the Rubymar remains intact underwater, the impact will be a slow trickle instead of a massive release, said Ralby.
Fertilizer fuels the proliferation of algae blooms like the ones seen every year in the Texas Gulf Coast as a result of far larger nutrient runoff from farms, urban lawns and industrial waste. The result is the loss of oxygen, asphyxiation of marine life and the creation of so-called “dead zones.”
At risk in the Red Sea are some of the world’s most colorful and extensive coral reefs. Several are major tourist draws and increasingly a subject of great scientific research owing to their apparent resilience to warming seawater temperatures that have destroyed reefs elsewhere in the ocean.
However manageable the fallout from the Rubymar’s sinking, Ralby worries that it could be a forerunner of even worse to come. He said most of the container ships pulled out from the Red Sea shipping lanes since the Houthis began targeting ships in the area over the Israel-Hamas war. What remains, he said, are poorly maintained vessels, oil tankers and bulk carriers that pose far greater environmental risks.
“With fewer and fewer container ships to target, the odds of another spill with massive environmental impact has increased enormously,” said Ralby.
___ British cargo ship sinks after Houthi attack in Red Sea
Our Foreign Staff Sat, March 2, 2024 The Rubymar was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertiliser when it came under attack - Yemeni Al-Joumhouriya TV HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A British-owned cargo ship sank in the Red Sea after it was damaged in a Houthi attack last month, Yemen’s government said on Saturday.
The government statement said the Rubymar sank on Friday night and warned of an “environmental catastrophe”.
The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertiliser when it came under attack, the US military’s Central Command previously said.
Yemen’s Houthi militants have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea region, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
On Monday, a Yemeni government team visited the Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned cargo ship, and said it was partially submerged and could sink within a couple of days.
The US military previously said the attack had significantly damaged the freighter and caused an 18-mile oil slick.
The United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the sinking on Saturday.
Houthi attacks have prompted shipping firms to divert vessels on to the longer, more expensive route around southern Africa. They have also stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread, destabilising the wider Middle East.
The United States and Britain began striking Houthi targets in Yemen in January in retaliation for the attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government is based in the southern port of Aden while the Houthis control much of the north and other large centres.
Ship hit earlier by Yemen's Houthi rebels sinks in Red Sea
Euronews Sat, March 2, 2024 Ship hit earlier by Yemen's Houthi rebels sinks in Red Sea
A ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday.
It is the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The sinking of the Rubymar comes as shipping through the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving from Asia and the Middle East to Europe has been affected by the Houthi attacks.
Already, many ships have turned away from the route.
The sinking could see further detours and higher insurance rates put on vessels plying the waterway — potentially driving up global inflation and affecting aid shipments to the region.
The Belize-flagged Rubymar had been drifting northward after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on Feb. 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial waterway linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The vessel had been abandoned for 12 days after the attack, though plans had been made to try and tow the ship to a safe port.
The Iran-backed Houthis, who had falsely claimed the ship sank almost instantly after the attack, did not immediately acknowledge the ship's sinking.
The US military’s Central Command previously warned the vessel’s cargo of fertilizer, as well as fuel leaking from the ship, could cause ecological damage to the Red Sea.
The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, expelling the government. It fought a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a stalemated war.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel Hamas war.
Despite over a month of US-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. That includes the attack on the Rubymar and the downing of a US drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which have enraged the wider Arab world and seen the Houthis gain international recognition.
However, there has been a slowdown in attacks in recent days. The reason for that remains unclear. Ship sunk by Houthis threatens Red Sea environment, Yemen government and US military say
Updated Sat, March 2, 2024 By Mohammad Ghobari
ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) -A UK-owned ship attacked by Houthi militants last month sank in the Red Sea, the U.S. military confirmed on Saturday, as it echoed a warning from Yemen's internationally recognised government that the vessel's cargo of hazardous fertiliser posed a risk to marine life.
The Belize-registered Rubymar is the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial ships in November. Those drone and missile assaults have forced shipping firms to divert ships to the longer route around southern Africa, disrupting global trade by delaying deliveries and sending costs higher.
The sinking bulk carrier also "presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway," U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in its statement on social media platform X.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control the north of Yemen and other large centres, say their campaign is a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The Houthi attacks have prompted a series of strikes against their positions by the United States and Britain, and have led other navies to send vessels to the region to try to protect the vital Suez Canal trade route.
The Rubymar went down in the southern Red Sea late on Friday or early on Saturday, according to statements from the Yemen government and CENTCOM.
The U.S. military previously said the Feb. 18 missile attack had significantly damaged the bulk vessel and caused an 18-mile (29-km) oil slick. The ship was carrying about 21,000 metric tons of fertiliser, CENTCOM said on Saturday.
Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, the foreign minister in Yemen's internationally recognised government in Aden, said in a post on X: "The sinking of the Rubymar is an environmental catastrophe that Yemen and the region have never experienced before.
"It is a new tragedy for our country and our people. Every day we pay the price for the adventures of the Houthi militia ..."
The internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, has been at war with the Houthis since 2014.
MARINE LIFE THREATENED
The release of such large amounts of fertiliser into the Red Sea poses a serious threat to marine life, said Ali Al-Sawalmih, director of the Marine Science Station at the University of Jordan.
The overload of nutrients can stimulate excessive growth of algae, using up so much oxygen that regular marine life cannot survive, said Al-Sawalmih, describing a process called eutrophication.
"An urgent plan should be adopted by countries of the Red Sea to establish monitoring agenda of the polluted areas in the Red Sea as well as adopt a cleanup strategy," he said.
The overall impact depends on how ocean currents deplete the fertiliser and how it is released from the stricken vessel, said Xingchen Tony Wang, assistant professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College.
The ecosystem of the southern Red Sea features pristine coral reefs, coastal mangroves and diverse marine life.
Last year, the area avoided a potential environmental disaster when the United Nations removed more than 1 million barrels of oil from a decaying supertanker moored off the Yemen coast. That type of operation may be more difficult in the current circumstances.
The Houthi attacks have stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread, destabilising the wider Middle East.
In a separate report, the UKMTO agency said it had received a report of a ship being attacked 15 nautical miles west of Yemen's port of Mokha.
"The crew took the vessel to anchor and were evacuated by military authorities," the UKMTO said in an advisory note.
Italy's defence ministry also said that one of its naval ships had shot down a drone flying towards it in the Red Sea.
The Houthi Transport Ministry, meanwhile, said there had been a "glitch" in undersea communication cables in the Red Sea as a result of actions by U.S. and British naval vessels. It did not give further details.
(Reporting by Mohammad Ghobari in Aden, Andrew Mills in Doha, Yomb Ehab in Cairo and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Writing by Enas Alashray, Andrew Mills and Mark Potter; Editing by Alison Williams, Giles Elgood and Jamie Freed)
A ship earlier hit by Yemen's Houthi rebels sinks in the Red Sea, the first vessel lost in conflict
JON GAMBRELL Updated Sat, March 2, 2024
This satellite image taken by Planet Labs PBC shows the Belize-flagged ship Rubymar in the Red Sea on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. The Rubymar, earlier attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels, has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday, March 2, 2024, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
(Planet Labs PBC via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Persistent Houthi attacks have already disrupted traffic in the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. Already, many ships have turned away from the route.
The Belize-flagged Rubymar had been drifting northward after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on Feb. 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial waterway linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Yemen's internationally recognized government, as well as a regional military official, confirmed the ship sank. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as no authorization was given to speak to journalists about the incident.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which watches over Mideast waterways, separately acknowledged the Rubymar's sinking Saturday afternoon.
The U.S. military's Central Command said early Sunday the Rubymar sank at 2:15 a.m. local time Saturday. It released an image of the vessel on its side as it was sinking.
“The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” it said in a statement. “As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway.”
The Rubymar’s Beirut-based manager did not respond to a request for comment.
Yemen's exiled government, which has been backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, said the Rubymar sank as stormy weather took hold over the Red Sea. The vessel had been abandoned for 12 days after the attack, though plans had been made to try and tow the ship to a safe port.
The Iran-backed Houthis had falsely claimed the ship sank almost instantly after the initial attack. Late Saturday, a Houthi leader tried to blame British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over the Rubymar.
“You have an opportunity to salvage the ship M/V Rubymar by guaranteeing ... that the relief trucks agreed upon at that time would enter Gaza,” Mohammed al-Houthi wrote in an online message.
Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, the prime minister of Yemen's internationally recognized government, called the ship's sinking “an unprecedented environmental disaster.”
“It’s a new disaster for our country and our people,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Every day, we pay for the Houthi militia’s adventures, which were not stopped at plunging Yemen into the coup disaster and war.”
Greenpeace also raised concerns about the ship sinking.
“Without immediate action, this situation could escalate into a major environmental crisis,” said Julien Jreissati, program director at Greenpeace MENA.
“As well as any further leaks of fuel oil from the engines, the sinking of the vessel could further breach the hull, allowing water to contact with the thousands of tons of fertilizer, which could then be released into the Red Sea and disrupt the balance of the marine ecosystems, triggering cascading effects throughout the food web.”
The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, expelling the government. The rebels have fought a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a stalemated war.
Satellite pictures analyzed by The Associated Press from Planet Labs PBC showed smaller boats alongside the Rubymar on Wednesday. It wasn't immediately clear whose vessels those were. The images showed the Rubymar's stern sinking into the Red Sea but still afloat, mirroring earlier video taken of the vessel.
The private security firm Ambrey separately reported Friday about a mysterious incident involving the Rubymar.
“A number of Yemenis were reportedly harmed during a security incident which took place” on Friday, Ambrey said. It did not elaborate on what that incident involved and no party involved in Yemen's yearslong war claimed any new attack on the vessel.
A satellite image taken Friday from Maxar Technologies showed new blast damage on the Rubymar not previously seen, with no other vessels around it. Additional satellite images taken Saturday by Planet Labs PBC of the area the Rubymar had been in recent days no longer showed the vessel.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.
Despite over a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels have remained capable of launching significant attacks. That includes the attack on the Rubymar and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which have enraged the wider Arab world and seen the Houthis gain international recognition.
The attacks have also disrupted aid shipments to both Yemen and Sudan, which is gripped by its own monthslong war. In recent days, the International Rescue Committee said it suspended its aid shipments to Port Sudan through the Red Sea over long delays and drastically increased costs.
However, there has been a slowdown in attacks in recent days. The reason for that remains unclear. Between four to eight U.S. and allied warships now patrol the Red Sea on any given day, said Maj. Pete Nguyen, a Defense Department spokesperson.
On Saturday, the Italian Defense Ministry said one of its vessels, the destroyer Caio Duilio, shot down a suspected Houthi drone in self-defense that appeared to be flying toward it.
"The terrorist attacks by the Houthis are a serious violation of international law and an attack on the safety of maritime traffic, on which our economy depends," the ministry said.
___
Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
Only grain ships from Black Sea and for Iran still crossing Red Sea, analysts say
Reuters Fri, March 1, 2024 Satellite image shows cargo ship Rubymar, attacked by Yemen's Houthis, according to U.S. military, on the Red Sea
HAMBURG (Reuters) - Grain ships originating from the Black Sea or bound for Iran are about the only ones still sailing through the Red Sea as Houthi militants continue to attack vessels in the area, analysts said on Friday.
The attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis have disrupted global shipping since November and forced firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
"Just about all (dry bulk grain) vessels going from the Americas and western Europe are avoiding the Red Sea, the only exception is vessels going to Iran, they're still taking the Red Sea route when shorter," said Ishan Bhanu, lead agricultural commodities analyst at data provider and analysts Kpler.
"All vessels we are tracking going from the Black Sea to Asia are going through the Red Sea, almost without exception," he added.
Grain transit through the Suez Canal hit a low of 2.6 million metric tons in February, down from 5.3 million tons in February 2023, Bhanu estimated.
The United States and other countries have sent naval vessels to protect civilian ships while the U.S. and UK have launched air strikes against Houthi forces, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel's military actions in Gaza.
"The Red Sea naval operation and air strikes have been going on for weeks now and it is pretty obvious that the Houthi attacks cannot be stopped easily by military means or that commercial ships can be given blanket protection," said one grain trader booking vessels to export cargoes from Europe.
"Many ship owners are still willing to accept the danger to their ships and vessels still can be booked for Red Sea sailings. Chinese purchases of Ukrainian corn recently are expected to transit the Red Sea."
(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lebanon LGBTQ+ activists say attacks are distraction from country’s problems
Community reports shift from uneasy tolerance to being scapegoated for socioeconomic crisis
When the Christian extremists of Soldiers of God menaced a bar in Beirut’s nightlife district during a drag show, their members had a chilling message for patrons: “We have warned you a hundred times … this is just the beginning.”
The group, whose members sometimes carry weapons, have repeatedly threatened places associated with Lebanon’s LGBTQ+ community, accusing them of “promoting homosexuality” amid an increase in homophobic rhetoric from the country’s politicians.
Lebanon has long been considered a bastion of relative tolerance compared with other countries in the Middle East, with gay-friendly clubs, bars and civil society organisations existing in pockets of the capital.
Spaces of relative safety flourished despite growing pressure from conservative elements across Lebanese society. However, LGBTQ+ people say they have noticed a shift from an uneasy tolerance to being scapegoated for the country’s problems.
Instead of fixing the cratered economy or demanding justice in the aftermath of a deadly blast in Beirut’s port, some of Lebanon’s more conservative figures have instead taken aim at LGBTQ+ people.
A soldier stands guard at the scene of an explosion at Beirut’s port in 2020.
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
The activist Tarek Zeidan scoffed when asked how he felt about politicians’ newfound zeal for targeting his community. “Who destroyed the Lebanese family – was it us? Or was it the economic policies that cause the complete dissolution of the Lebanese family, many now forced to leave the country to work elsewhere.
“Who has destroyed the fabric of society? Us, who have been part of society since its inception, or them?”
Zeidan, the executive director of the LGBTQ+ rights group Helem, added: “This is the manufacturing of a moral panic in order to justify a crackdown, and to deviate public attention away from their unpopular policies.”
The leader of the powerful Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has used several recent speeches to criticise the LGBTQ+ community, stating that gay people should be killed, accusing civil society groups of promoting homosexuality and describing the community as an “imminent threat to society”.
In the aftermath, Human Rights Watch reported a rise in the number of online threats, prompting the dating app Grindr to take immediate action to protect users.
Lebanon’s acting culture minister, Mohammad Mortada, meanwhile led a charge against the release of the summer blockbuster movie Barbie, which has grossed $1bn worldwide and delighted audiences in other parts of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
He said the film should be banned for “promoting homosexuality and sexual transformation” as well as “contradicting religious values and morality”. Barbie is due to be released in Lebanon on Thursday.
The veteran activist Georges Azzi, who co-founded Helem as well as the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality and lives in exile after harassment over his advocacy, called Nasrallah’s statements a way for the group “to stage an attack on our society, and to create a war they can win”.
He sees Nasrallah’s comments as a way to distract the public, notably from the anniversary of a catastrophic blast in Beirut’s port three years ago that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and destroyed swaths of the capital. “Any subject that can distract people from this, they’ll take it,” he said.
Nasrallah has repeatedly criticised gay people along with opponents of child marriage in past years, claiming homosexuals are “destroying societies” and groups working to combat early marriage are “unknowingly serving the devil”.
Members of the LGBT+ community wave rainbow flags as they sail along the famous Raoucheh (Pigeon Rock) landmark in Beirut to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Photograph: Marwan Tahtah/AFP/Getty Images
His recent comments have prompted a fresh wave of efforts by religious conservatives from multiple faiths, all claiming to defend traditional family values.
A thinktank linked to Hezbollah published a draft law that would prohibit mentioning homosexuality in all institutions including the media as well as demanding prison sentences for same-sex relations, while a Sunni MP from the northern city of Tripoli said he was preparing his own bill to criminalise homosexuality.
The Maronite Christian patriarch recently oversaw a ministerial gathering attended by the caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, focusing on the threats to the traditional family and warning against a “narrative cloaked in modernity, liberty and human rights rhetoric, which contradicts religious and ethical principles”.
Mortada – who tried to ban Barbie – has taken to social media to repeated proclaim his opposition to what he termed “promoting” homosexuality and sparred with a small group of progressive MPs who proposed repealing a vague clause in the Lebanese penal code used to criminalise homosexuality, punishable with up to a year in prison.
Activists and rights groups point to what they say instead are the real problems the country is facing. Since 2019, most Lebanese citizens have been locked out of their savings amid a paralysing banking and financial crisis. Political gridlock and widespread dissatisfaction with parliamentarians reign, while the country has been without a president for almost a year.
“Lebanon is drowning,” said Ramzi Kaiss of Human Rights Watch. “Throughout this year, the government and Lebanese authorities have distracted from their responsibility to handle this crisis and the need to implement badly needed reforms, both in the judiciary and the economy, by using a scapegoat. In the spring this was refugees and now it’s against LGBTQ+ people.”
He added: “This is in the context of a crumbling state, a massive economic crisis, crises in education and healthcare and the prison system. But none of this is a problem for the government, instead we have politicians and public officials using scapegoats as a way of diverting from the real problems.”
Zeidan drew a parallel between the escalation of homophobia in Lebanon and tactics used by governments across the Middle East. An Iraqi MP recently proposed a bill that could cause those convicted for same-gender relations to receive the death penalty, and imprison anyone accused of “imitating women” for up to three years.
“It can be easy political dividends to manufacture these kinds of moral panics,” he said. “It gets eyes off the problems with electricity, with water, the devaluation of the lira and the crisis that Lebanon is to talk about an unseen intangible threat of deviants and homosexuality that are coming for your children.”
Saturday, August 05, 2023
Lebanon: Thousands march demanding justice over Beirut blast
Exactly three years after a massive explosion killed hundreds and wounded thousands in Beirut, nobody has been held legally accountable. Families of those who died marched to mark the anniversary of the tragedy.
Thousands of protesters marched in Lebanon on Friday to commemorate three years after one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history tore through the port of Beirut.
Many protesters wore black and some carried photographs of their loved ones who died as a result of the blast.
They chanted "We will not forget!" as they marched through the Lebanese capital to the port where the explosion happened.
Thousands of people marched towards the port of Beirut
"Three years have passed and you have been turning a deaf ear to this request and this hurts a lot," Mireille Bazergy Khoury, whose was killed by the blast, told the Associated Press.
"This crime is not a Lebanese issue. Victims are all of all nationalities. Please take action."
At least 236 people died from the explosion, according to an independent count
Hassan Ammar/AP/picture alliance
Paul Naggear, who lost his 3-year-old daughter in the blast, also told the AFP news agency that he has "not been able to grieve for three years".
"We will keep demanding justice until our very last breath," he said.
At least 236 died as a result of the blast according to Lebanese rights group Maan. This figure is higher than the official government death toll of 191.
Another 6,000 people were wounded by the blast, which also caused billions of dollars' worth of damage around Beirut. No justice after three years
Nobody has been held accountable for the disaster, and an investigation into the officials who apparently allowed hundreds of tons of highly flammable ammonium nitrate to be improperly stored for years is at a virtual standstill.
There have however been repeated attempts, so far abortive or halted, to initiate prosecutions against several individuals.
The probe, currently led by Judge Tarek Bitar, has been stalled since late 2021 by a slew of legal complaints filed against him by some of the suspects, including current and former officials.
Lebanese groups, international organizations, survivors of the blast, and families of victims sent 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 political class have used every tool at their disposal — both legal and extra-legal — to undermine, obstruct, and block the domestic investigation into the blast," said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International's deputy chief for the Mideast and North Africa.
Lebanese groups have appealed to the UN Rights Council over the stalled investigation
Marwan Naamani/dpa/picture alliance
France and the United States echoed calls for a full investigation on Friday.
In a memorial church service held on the eve of the blast anniversary, Lebanon's top Christian cleric, Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, also backed calls for an international fact-finding committee.
"What hurts these families and hurts us the most is the indifference of state officials who are preoccupied with their interests and cheap calculations," Rai said
zc/msh (AFP, Reuters, AP)
Calls for Justice and UN Investigation Three Years After Beirut Explosion
Port of Beirut was leveled in the 2020 explosion butthree years later no one has been held accountable (file photo)
Marking three years since the disastrous Beirut port explosion, the global community is joining with survivors and families of victims in calling for the completion of the investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable. Since the explosion on August 4, 2020, no one has been criminally charged while critics accuse the government and officials of political interference in the domestic investigation of the incident, consequently delaying justice.
In a joint letter sent on Friday, over 300 human rights organizations and individuals affected by the explosion called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to take over the investigation. The letter asked member countries of the council to support the establishment of an international, independent, and impartial fact-finding mission into the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
“We still don’t have access to the truth or justice, three years after the devastating explosion took our daughter, home, and our neighborhoods, in a country plagued by impunity,” said Paul and Tracy Naggear, whose 3-year-old daughter died from the explosion.
The protests by the families are being supported by countries around the world. Mattew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State issued a statement saying, “The United States continues to stand with the people of Lebanon. The victims and their families deserve justice and accountability for those responsible for the disaster and the underlying causes. The lack of progress towards accountability is unacceptable and underscores the need for judicial reform and greater respect for the rule of law in Lebanon.”
While Lebanon initiated a domestic investigation into the explosion in 2021, it has been suspended after a series of legal challenges filed by politicians charged with crimes related to the blast. So far, two investigators appointed to lead the blast’s probe have failed to deliver meaningful results. The first lead investor Judge Fadi Sawan was removed from the case within months. The second Judge Tarek Bitar has faced over 25 lawsuits filed by Lebanese politicians to have him resign, further causing suspension of the blast inquiry.
As the case dragged on, Lebanon’s top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat in January 2023, ordered the release of all suspects detained in the investigation. Reports have said that some of the victims, now living overseas, have been exploring filing lawsuits in the international courts.
At a UN Human Rights Council meeting in March, 38 countries through a joint statement delivered by Australia condemned the pervasive obstruction of justice in the Beirut port blast. The statement called on Lebanese authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations and safeguard the independence of the judiciary. Five months later, the groups highlight that nothing has progressed.
“UN member states should put forward a resolution at the Human Rights Council establishing a fact-finding mission into the explosion. The findings should make recommendations to Lebanon and the international community on steps that are needed both to remedy the established violations and to ensure such an incident does not recur,” stated the letter sent to UN Human Rights Council.
The August 2020 Beirut port explosion is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. It is believed to have claimed at least 220 people, wounded over 7,000, and caused extensive property damage around the port.
The explosion is believed to have stemmed from a fire at a warehouse that ignited nearly 3,000 tons of the highly flammable ammonium nitrate. Previous efforts had identified the dangerous material reporting that it had been improperly stored in the port since 2014. Political leaders and port officials have been accused of ignoring the chemicals and failing to act to reduce the danger to the port and city.
