The Beirut blast probe needs to go on – and the world can help

Iranian-backed elements trying to scuttle the Beirut blast probe must be held to account

RAGHIDA DERGHAM
Published: October 16th 2021


Demonstrators wave Lebanese flags during protests near the site of a blast at Beirut's port area. Reuters

It is welcome news that Iran wants to restore ties with Saudi Arabia, and that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are reaching out to Tehran to urge it to play a constructive role in ending the war in Yemen. The Saudi-Iranian talks in Iraq must also continue beyond the recent fourth round, with the aim being to begin a new chapter in Arab-Iran relations. One can only hope that these developments mark a serious and positive shift for the region.

However, the policy being pursued by the world’s major powers of separating the start-stop Vienna talks to strike a new nuclear deal with Iran from its destabilising activities in the Arab world will continue to have profound implications for the region. Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen are all run by weak governments, with Tehran-sponsored proxies wielding outsized influence in all three countries.

Last week’s parliamentary election in Iraq produced a surprising outcome, with Iran-backed political parties faring poorly – and, therefore, revealing the resentment ordinary Iraqis bear towards the neighbouring country’s influence in their affairs. The announcement of the results was followed by threats from Tehran’s allies to undo the results, thereby risking a security crisis in the country. It also proved that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in charge of Tehran’s overseas military activities – and which has been emboldened by the global powers’ decision to isolate the nuclear talks from Iran’s regional activities – does not have a stomach for genuine elections.

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It is a similar story in Lebanon. Believing that it doesn't need to account for its destabilising activities there, Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, is working hard to undermine the judiciary’s remit to deliver justice, in cases in which the group is implicated. It is currently trying to derail the investigation into last year’s Beirut Port explosion that left more than 200 people dead and over 7,000 injured. It has even threatened to topple the newly installed federal government if the latter refuses to give in to its diktats. Such an outcome could lead to street battles in a country that continues to have strong memories of its 15-year civil war, even though it ended more than three decades ago.

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement party, its ally in Parliament, are targeting Tarek Bitar, the judge probing the port blast by accusing him of politicising the investigation, simply because he has refused to tolerate their interference. Both parties have targeted other officials in similar fashion before, but this time, they are doing so feeling confident that no foreign power will do anything to intervene, beyond making denunciations.

It is increasingly evident that Hezbollah wants to shut down the probe into the August 2020 blast, which has a complicated backstory allegedly involving corrupt politicians, international shell companies and – most crucially – Hezbollah, which controlled the port at the time of the explosion.

Many questions over the explosion remain unanswered: was it an act of terror or simply an accident? Either way, how did it happen and who was responsible for it? The investigation has yet to arrive at any conclusions, because the judiciary has so far been hamstrung by Hezbollah’s politicking and, allegedly, due to a lack co-operation from other countries. Again, the question is why.

One theory is that illicit imports and exports were transiting through the Beirut Port to and from Syria and Iran. Could these products have included chemicals, spare parts, chips and electronics, or any sensitive material that Tehran would need for its nuclear and missile development programmes? Any evidence to back such claims would set not only the Vienna talks back but also the prospect of the US lifting its sanctions on Iran. Mr Bitar’s investigation, it seems, has been a source of great discomfort to Hezbollah and its patrons in Tehran.

What gives Hezbollah some of its clout, which it uses to try and push officials around, is its alliance with Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement party. Mr Aoun currently finds himself having to choose between yielding to Hezbollah's demands and listening to his own political base, which seems increasingly impatient with the slow pace of the investigation.

Michel Aoun is not a victim who lacks agency. He can act in Lebanon’s interest

Mr Aoun, however, is not a victim who lacks agency. He can act in Lebanon’s interest by upholding the principle of the separation of powers. He must show wisdom and courage based on a profound reading of the outcome of his party’s alliance with Hezbollah, which has allowed the latter to seize key levers of the Lebanese state, put the presidency in an awkward spot, and threaten to pull down the government.

The president can take positive action by permitting Mr Bitar to question Maj Gen Tony Saliba, the head of state security. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, meanwhile, can ask the interior ministry to allow Mr Bitar to question Maj Gen Abbas Ibrahim, the head of general security. By doing so, both the president and prime minister can prove they are protectors of the judiciary and can, thereby, set a positive example for other leaders.

The current crisis in Lebanon is one involving the purportedly independent judiciary on the one side and the political class that considers itself above the law on the other. Internal matter or not, however, the international community must throw its support behind the judiciary. For, this branch of the government is in grave danger and its officials need international backing and protection. The US and the European powers, led by France, can move to deploy sanctions against those mutinying against the judiciary, as the Lebanese security services fail to act fearing political recriminations.

Failing to do so will give Hezbollah – with support from Tehran – and Amal the space to do what they can to foil the investigation. The fate of the court case could prove consequential for Lebanese politics and the stakes Hezbollah, and by extension Iran, will continue to have in it.

Raghida Dergham  is the founder and executive chairwoman of

the Beirut Institute and a columnist for The National (UAE)

LEBANESE CHRISTIANS REMEMBER PORT BLAST

Two years after October 17 protests, Lebanon's economic crisis worse than ever

FRANCE 24's Claire Paccalin interviews Lynn Harfoush, an executive committee member of Lebanon's secular National Bloc party, in Beirut on October 17, 2021.

Issued on: 17/10/2021 - 

Text by :FRANCE 24Follow|

Video by: Claire PACCALIN

Two years after Lebanon's so-called October 17 movement began with major nationwide protests, disillusionment and fear prevail in the country. Several prime ministers have come and gone since 2019, but the protesters’ demands have not been met. FRANCE 24's Claire Paccalin speaks with Lynn Harfoush, an executive committee member of the National Bloc political party, who remains undeterred.

Turnout was small at the October 17 demonstration this year, but Harfoush, an executive committee member of Lebanon's secular National Bloc party said there was still reason for hope.

“It is a bit disappointing, but at the same time, it’s something we understand,” Harfoush said of the low turnout. “The crisis has grown much bigger. Some people are even unable to commute to come here. But what we are sure of, and the reason that we still believe in the October 17 revolution, is that it did light this flame of change in a lot of people’s hearts.”

Harfoush said the economic situation was worse than ever. “We’ve moved from worrying about how we were going to spend our days to worrying about whether we would find any gas, electricity, water … we’ve moved to worrying about our minimum needs. Gas has become very expensive, while the minimum wage is still very low,” she said, adding that many Lebanese have lost their jobs and were worried about the inflation crisis.

Harfoush said the protest movement was also demanding progress in the investigation into the August 4, 2020 explosion at Beirut Port. “It is a very big date for us, because it proved to the people that the political class is not only unable to provide for their needs but it is also unable to protect them.” Bringing those responsible for the blast, which claimed the lives of more than 217 people and destroyed the port and a large part of the city “has become a top demand of all the October 17 revolution movements", she said.

Harfoush said it might take a long time, but her party and other participants in the protest movement would continue working. “There’s a lot for us to do. There’s this whole political class that we need to overcome,” she said.

Click on the video player to watch the full report.

Low turnout as Lebanese mark two years of protests

Issued on: 17/10/2021 - 

Dozens of protesters marched in the Lebanese capital Beirut on October 17, 2021 to mark the second anniversary of the start of the now defunct protest movement 

ANWAR AMRO AFP

Beirut (AFP)

Lebanon marked the second anniversary of its defunct protest movement with a low-key demonstration in Beirut Sunday, while many stayed away amid grinding economic woes and deadly tensions over a port blast probe.

Dozens marched under rain clouds towards Martyrs' Square in central Beirut, an AFP photographer said.

Mass protests bringing together Lebanese from all backgrounds erupted on October 17, 2019, denouncing deteriorating living conditions as well as alleged official graft and mismanagement, after the government announced a plan to tax phone calls made over messaging service WhatsApp.

Cross-sectarian demonstrations swept the country, demanding the overthrow of political barons in power since at least the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Two years on, Lebanon is mired in a ballooning financial crisis compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, and battered by a devastating explosion at Beirut's port on August 4 last year.

Draconian banking restrictions have prevented many Lebanese from accessing their savings, while the local currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value to the dollar on the black market.

Almost 80 percent of the population live in poverty, struggling to put food on the table in the face of endless price hikes, fuel shortages and power cuts.

One who did protest on Sunday, Rabih Zein, said it was not just previous police crackdowns that had kept demonstrators away.

"If anyone is wondering why there are not many people, it's because they've deprived us of petrol, electricity and the money we put in banks," he said.

Each person marching represented many more who were forced to stay at home, Zein claimed.

"Today is a symbolic stand. God willing, we will move towards change at the parliamentary elections" next spring, said the 37-year-old television producer from the northern city of Tripoli.

The protest movement has given birth to a flurry of new political groups, which many hope will run in the upcoming polls.

The port blast killed more than 210 people and wrecked swathes of Beirut. But no one has yet been held accountable in a domestic investigation which top politicians have tried to hamper at every turn.

On Thursday, seven people were killed in central Beirut during gunfire following a rally by supporters of the country's two main Shiite parties calling for the dismissal of the lead investigator in the case.

Fatima Mahyu, a protester from Beirut, said some people were likely too scared to come out on Sunday.

"There is fear and weariness," said the mother of two, both of whom have emigrated. "People are exhausted."

Another protester, Micheline Abu Khater, a history teacher, said she was staying in Lebanon for the upcoming elections.

"I am full of hope for change," she said.

© 2021 AFP

Analysis: How Judge Bitar’s probe shook Lebanon leaders

Experts say judge leading investigation into last year’s explosion at Beirut’s port rattled the country simply by challenging systemic impunity.

Supporters of Lebanese groups Hezbollah and Amal take part in a protest against Tarek Bitar, the lead judge of the port blast investigation 

[File: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
By Kareem Chehayeb
16 Oct 2021

Beirut, Lebanon – When the Lebanese government announced more than a year ago that the probe into the devastating explosion in Beirut’s port would be conducted domestically, few expected that senior officials would be charged.

But even fewer expected that the lead investigator, Judge Tarek Bitar, could rattle the country’s entrenched leadership, which for decades has reigned with impunity and routinely quashed legal investigations that may hold it accountable.

More than 200 people were killed and some 6,500 wounded when hundreds of tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate fertiliser stored in the port for years ignited on August 4, 2020. The explosion wrecked large parts of Beirut and continues to haunt Lebanon, as the country struggles with an economic meltdown that plunged three-quarters of its population into poverty. No officials have been convicted yet.

Bitar’s persistence to pursue senior political and security officials, despite their attempts to delegitimise and remove him, has put the country on notice.

“Judge Bitar is giving the Lebanese hope in the domestic judiciary after many people have totally given up on justice and accountability locally,” Aya Majzoub, Human Rights Watch Lebanon researcher, told Al Jazeera. “He is single-handedly facing off with the entire political establishment that is implicated in the Beirut blast.”

On Thursday, a protest in Beirut by Hezbollah and Amal supporters calling for Bitar’s removal turned into a bloodbath when unidentified snipers fired at the crowd from rooftops, triggering a gun battle that last for more than four hours. Seven civilians and combatants died.

Families of the explosion victims, activists and human rights organisations continue to back Bitar. However, several political and religious leaders from across the country’s sectarian spectrum continue to call for his removal and accuse him of bias, accusations dismissed by legal experts and rights groups.

Bitar was appointed to lead the investigation in February following the dismissal of his predecessor, Judge Fadi Sawan, who had shockingly charged former ministers Ali Hasan Khalil, Ghazi Zeiter, Youssef Finianos, and Lebanon’s then-caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab with criminal negligence.

Over the past seven months, Bitar has continued to pursue the same individuals and also charged former minister Nohad Machnouk. He has also repeatedly requested to summon two senior security officials, General Security chief Major-General Abbas Ibrahim and State Security head Major-General Tony Saliba – but the Ministry of Interior and Higher Defence Council would reject the requests.

The charged politicians have declined to show up to the interrogations. They have also continuously tried to remove the judge by filing legal complaints, which have sometimes temporarily suspended the investigation. Though the judiciary has so far dismissed these complaints, legal experts say this has been a tactic to stall the investigation, while major political parties have now also begun calling for Bitar’s removal.

The most vociferous has been Hezbollah, even though Bitar has not charged anyone from the party. Just three days before Thursday’s clashes, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused the judge of politically targeting officials and called for an “honest and transparent judge”. Last month, a senior Hezbollah security official reportedly threatened Judge Bitar in his office.

“It’s clear that Bitar has hit too close to home, but we don’t know why Hezbollah, in particular, is leading this campaign against him,” Majzoub said. “They keep saying they’re singled out, but none of the officials Bitar has called for investigation are Hezbollah officials.”

Lebanon’s troubled history is littered with conflict, including a vicious 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, followed by decades of assassinations and sporadic armed clashes. But the perpetrators of even the gravest crimes were never held to account. Many say this is an extension of rampant corruption in Lebanon, where the judiciary is not independent of the government.

Now, political leaders have accused Bitar and the judiciary of being politicised.

Families and experts told Al Jazeera that Bitar set a new precedent in the port explosion investigation and shocked Lebanon’s leadership.

Bachar El-Halabi, a political analyst, said Bitar “decided to go as far as possible”.

“Sawan’s removal also shocked [the public] and garnered support in the public sphere which transcended sectarian fault lines,” El-Halabi noted. “It’s not just about ending the impunity that continues to reign supreme in Lebanon, but a fear of any kind of repercussion of change that could come through the judiciary.”

Two years ago, mass nationwide protests demanded accountability for rampant corruption and financial mismanagement, as well as an end to decades of rule at the hands of the country’s sectarian leadership. A common call among protesters at the time was an independent judiciary to investigate corrupt politicians and business people.

“Bitar has also started a wider discussion around the country around [legal] immunities, and the really corrupt political and legal system that essentially shields these high-level officials from accountability,” Majzoub said.

“He brought this issue to the forefront of public debate in Lebanon, and put a lot of pressure to reform this system designed by the powerful to protect the powerful.”

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How an investigation into Beirut's port explosion is rattling Lebanon's elite, stirring memories of civil war

Analysis by Tamara Qiblawi, CNN
Sat October 16, 2021

(CNN)For many in Lebanon, Thursday's scenes from central Beirut brought a sense of deja vu.

Snipers shot people from rooftops. Masked gunmen fired back with rocket-propelled grenades and B7 rockets. Terrified schoolchildren took cover in corridors. And to top it all off, the violence was all playing out along the capital's former "Green Line," a major battle front that divided Beirut's Christian east from the predominantly Muslim west during the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

It was enough to send shivers down the spine of a people still reeling from collective traumas both fresh -- such as last summer's Beirut port blast -- and old. The wounds of the civil war continue to fester, and to watch smoke billowing from buildings covered in pockmarks from battles long past was almost too much for ordinary people to bear.
Yet for all the harrowingly familiar optics of Thursday's fighting, the political environment is new. The violence did not pit Muslim against Christian. Nor are the motivations sectarian. Instead, the violence has emerged from a fault-line that is divorced from those terrible realities.

Men help evacuate an elderly woman after gunfire erupted, in Beirut, Lebanon October 14, 2021.

The probe into the port explosion that killed more than 200 people is at the heart of Thursday's tumult. The investigation -- the biggest ever legal challenge to Lebanon's ruling elite, who are also a holdover from the civil war -- is widely seen as a potential milestone, a tool through which the country can begin to shed its blood-drenched past.
Neither the masked gunmen who emerged from a Hezbollah-organized protest against the port probe, nor the unknown snipers who appeared to be posturing as defenders of the investigation, have a vested interest in Lebanon moving forward or finding answers from the devastation of August 2020. Hezbollah and its ally Amal have accused the Christian right-wing party and former militia, the Lebanese Forces (LF), of being behind the sniping -- an allegation the LF has rejected.

Thursday's fighters appear keen to keep the tiny Mediterranean country stuck in the past, just when the population has overwhelmingly voiced support for a better future. The judge leading the investigation into the probe, Tarek Bitar, has emerged as a champion of those people. Hezbollah, on the other hand, has positioned itself as Bitar's most vociferous opponent.

People of all religious stripes were casualties of the August 2020 explosion. Across Lebanon's religious spectrum, people want justice. In that same vein, Hezbollah — which has not been prosecuted in the probe so far — has led a political offensive on behalf of a multi-religious elite.

Bitar has sought to question top officials across the board, and has recently issued arrest warrants against three former ministers — a Sunni Muslim, a Shia Muslim and a Maronite Christian.

The divisions therefore do not play out along Lebanon's age-old confessional lines. Instead some say observers ought to be looking at the implications of the probe itself. The investigation into the Beirut blast has rattled the political elite in a way that the blast itself, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, could not.

The ruling class appears to be shaking in its boots, after having unsuccessfully petitioned to remove Bitar from his position. This is the same elite that survived a civil war, thanks to an amnesty law that marked the end of the conflict, and was largely unfazed by the October 2019 nationwide popular uprising and the devastating economic catastrophe that followed.

The ramifications of the probe could extend beyond Lebanon and to the Arab world at large. This is a region well-known for brazenly undermining its judiciary, even as the appetite for accountability among an increasingly frustrated Arab youth continues to grow.

If, against all odds, Bitar can see his investigation through, then he could be setting a precedent for the entire region. Arab leaders should take note.


A man runs for cover as gunfire breaks out at a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, on Thursday, October 14.

How an investigation into Beirut's port explosion is rattling Lebanon's elite, stirring memories of civil war


Analysis by Tamara Qiblawi, CNN

Updated  Sat October 16, 2021

Lebanon in crisis after worst violence in years 

(CNN)For many in Lebanon, Thursday's scenes from central Beirut brought a sense of deja vu.
Snipers shot people from rooftops. Masked gunmen fired back with rocket-propelled grenades and B7 rockets. Terrified schoolchildren took cover in corridors. And to top it all off, the violence was all playing out along the capital's former "Green Line," a major battle front that divided Beirut's Christian east from the predominantly Muslim west during the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

It was enough to send shivers down the spine of a people still reeling from collective traumas both fresh -- such as last summer's Beirut port blast -- and old. The wounds of the civil war continue to fester, and to watch smoke billowing from buildings covered in pockmarks from battles long past was almost too much for ordinary people to bear.

Yet for all the harrowingly familiar optics of Thursday's fighting, the political environment is new. The violence did not pit Muslim against Christian. Nor are the motivations sectarian. Instead, the violence has emerged from a fault-line that is divorced from those terrible realities.

Men help evacuate an elderly woman after gunfire erupted, in Beirut, Lebanon October 14, 2021.

The probe into the port explosion that killed more than 200 people is at the heart of Thursday's tumult. The investigation -- the biggest ever legal challenge to Lebanon's ruling elite, who are also a holdover from the civil war -- is widely seen as a potential milestone, a tool through which the country can begin to shed its blood-drenched past.

Neither the masked gunmen who emerged from a Hezbollah-organized protest against the port probe, nor the unknown snipers who appeared to be posturing as defenders of the investigation, have a vested interest in Lebanon moving forward or finding answers from the devastation of August 2020. Hezbollah and its ally Amal have accused the Christian right-wing party and former militia, the Lebanese Forces (LF), of being behind the sniping -- an allegation the LF has rejected.

Thursday's fighters appear keen to keep the tiny Mediterranean country stuck in the past, just when the population has overwhelmingly voiced support for a better future. The judge leading the investigation into the probe, Tarek Bitar, has emerged as a champion of those people. Hezbollah, on the other hand, has positioned itself as Bitar's most vociferous opponent.

People of all religious stripes were casualties of the August 2020 explosion. Across Lebanon's religious spectrum, people want justice. In that same vein, Hezbollah — which has not been prosecuted in the probe so far — has led a political offensive on behalf of a multi-religious elite.

Bitar has sought to question top officials across the board, and has recently issued arrest warrants against three former ministers — a Sunni Muslim, a Shia Muslim and a Maronite Christian.

The divisions therefore do not play out along Lebanon's age-old confessional lines. Instead some say observers ought to be looking at the implications of the probe itself. The investigation into the Beirut blast has rattled the political elite in a way that the blast itself, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, could not.


Photos: Gunfire erupts during protest in Beirut
A man runs for cover as gunfire breaks out at a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, on Thursday, October 14.

The ruling class appears to be shaking in its boots, after having unsuccessfully petitioned to remove Bitar from his position. This is the same elite that survived a civil war, thanks to an amnesty law that marked the end of the conflict, and was largely unfazed by the October 2019 nationwide popular uprising and the devastating economic catastrophe that followed.

The ramifications of the probe could extend beyond Lebanon and to the Arab world at large. This is a region well-known for brazenly undermining its judiciary, even as the appetite for accountability among an increasingly frustrated Arab youth continues to grow.

If, against all odds, Bitar can see his investigation through, then he could be setting a precedent for the entire region. Arab leaders should take note.

Beirut port blast: Gunfire erupts at protest against judge leading probe

At least six people have been killed and 32 others injured by gunfire in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The shooting began during a protest by the Shia Muslim groups Hezbollah and Amal against the judge investigating last year's blast at the city's port.

They said Christian snipers fired at the crowd to drag Lebanon into strife.

Huge tension surrounds the probe into the port explosion. Hezbollah and its allies claim the judge is biased, but the victims' families support his work.

No-one has yet been held accountable for the August 2020 disaster, in which 219 people were killed and swathes of the city were devastated.

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What began as a protest outside the Palace of Justice - the main court building - by hundreds of people arguing the investigation had become politicised and demanding the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar escalated remarkably quickly, reports the BBC's Anna Foster in Beirut.

Heavy gunfire erupted in the streets as the crowd passed through a roundabout in the central Tayouneh-Badaro area.

Residents fled as Shia and Christian militia fighters exchanged fire in the streets

Local residents had to flee their homes and schoolchildren ducked for cover under their desks as men armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers - believed to have been members of Shia and Christian militias - exchanged fire in the streets.

The clashes continued for several hours before calm was restored.

Hospital and military sources said some of those killed were shot in the head. They included a woman who was hit by a stray bullet while inside her home.

Hezbollah and Amal accused a staunch opponent, the Christian Lebanese Forces party, of being behind the attack on the protesters.

 

Lebanese army soldiers and ambulances rushed to the scene after the gunfire erupted

The two Shia organisations said demonstrators were "subject to an armed attack by groups from the Lebanese Forces party that deployed in neighbouring streets and on rooftops, and engaged in direct sniping activity and intentional killing".

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned the violence and appealed for calm.

"The main cause of these developments lies in the presence of uncontrolled and widespread weapons that threaten the citizens at any time and in any place," he tweeted.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on everyone to "calm down and not be drawn into sedition for any reason whatsoever".

The army said it had deployed troops to search for the assailants, and warned that they would "shoot at any gunman on the roads".

Hezbollah and Amal supporters had gathered earlier to demand the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar

Earlier on Thursday, a court dismissed a legal complaint brought by two former government ministers and Amal MPs - Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter - whom Judge Bitar has sought to question on suspicion of negligence in connection with the port explosion.

The two men, who deny any wrongdoing, accused the judge of bias.

Families of the victims had condemned the complaint, which caused the probe to be suspended for the second time in three weeks.

They have accused the country's political leadership of trying to shield itself from scrutiny.

"Keep your hands off the judiciary," they warned the cabinet on Wednesday after ministers allied to Hezbollah demanded that Judge Bitar be replaced.

The port blast happened after a fire detonated 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a combustible chemical widely used as agricultural fertiliser, that had been stored unsafely in a port warehouse for almost six years.

Senior officials were aware of the material's existence and the danger it posed but failed to secure, remove or destroy it.

Watch: People run for cover as gunfire sounds in Beirut

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M IS LEGAL

As Lebanese got poorer, politicians stowed wealth abroad
By BASSEM MROUE

1 of 8

Bank customers hold up defaced posters of Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's Central Bank, right, and Makram Sadir, secretary general of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, with Arabic that reads: "Stole my future," during a protest in front of the Central Bank in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Dozens of Lebanese gathered outside a bank in Beirut's downtown demanding that they be allowed to withdraw their deposits that have been blocked amid Lebanon's severe financial and economic crisis. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)


BEIRUT (AP) — A trove of leaked documents confirmed that for years, Lebanon’s politicians and bankers have stowed wealth in offshore tax havens and used it to buy expensive properties — a galling revelation for masses of newly impoverished Lebanese, caught in one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns in decades.

Some of the newly outed holders of offshore accounts belong to the same ruling elite that is being blamed for the collapse and for derailing the lives of ordinary Lebanese who have lost access to savings and now struggle to get fuel, electricity and medicine.

Bold-faced names in the leaked documents include the longtime central bank governor, a pivotal figure in the failed policies that helped trigger the financial crisis, as well as Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his predecessor.

The documents, named the “Pandora Papers,” were examined by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, with the first findings released on Sunday. The ICIJ report exposes the offshore secrets of wealthy elites from more than 200 countries and territories.

It was based on a review of nearly 11.9 million records obtained from 14 firms that provide services in setting up offshore firms and shell companies. Clients of such firms are often trying to hide their wealth and financial activities.

Setting up an offshore company is not illegal, but reinforces the perception that the wealthy and powerful play by different rules — a particularly upsetting notion for many Lebanese.

The papers show how members of the political class were sending wealth abroad for years, even as they urged people to deposit money in Lebanon’s banks, assuring them that it was safe, said Alia Ibrahim, a Lebanese journalist.

“We are not talking about regular citizens,” said Ibrahim, a co-founder of Daraj, a Beirut-based independent digital media platform, and one of scores of journalists across the world who worked with ICIJ on the investigation into the documents.

“These are politicians who served in public office for years, and they are partly responsible for the current crisis Lebanon is going through,” she said.

Lebanon is in the midst of what the World Bank says is one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns in the past 150 years. More than 70% of the population has been thrown into poverty, their savings nearly wiped out in the crisis that began in late 2019 and was in part caused by decades of corruption and mismanagement by the political class.

Hundreds of thousands of people staged nationwide protests against corruption starting in late 2019. Yet two years later the same politicians still run the country in the same way, protected by the sectarian-based system.

One of the protesters, Samir Skaff, said that the Lebanese are not surprised to be told that the political class “is made up of a bunch of thieves.”

“We have been saying that for years,” he said.

Customers hold a banner with Arabic that reads: "Pandora (Papers) exposed you," during a protest in front of the Central Bank in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Dozens of Lebanese gathered outside a bank in Beirut's downtown demanding that they be allowed to withdraw their deposits that have been blocked amid Lebanon's severe financial and economic crisis. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)



Bank customers use stones to bang on a metal wall of a bank, during a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Dozens of Lebanese gathered outside a bank in Beirut's downtown demanding that they be allowed to withdraw their deposits that have been blocked amid Lebanon's severe financial and economic crisis. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Bank customers bang on the metal walls of a bank, during a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Dozens of Lebanese gathered outside a bank in Beirut's downtown demanding that they be allowed to withdraw their deposits that have been blocked amid Lebanon's severe financial and economic crisis. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A customer holds a placard with Arabic that reads: "What was taken by force can only be regained by force," during a protest in front of the Central Bank, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Dozens of Lebanese gathered outside a bank in Beirut's downtown demanding that they be allowed to withdraw their deposits that have been blocked amid Lebanon's severe financial and economic crisis. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Offshore companies, though not illegal, can be used to elude taxes or hide illicitly gained money. The leaks only add further confirmation to what Lebanese have long said about their ruling class — though repeated reports of graft or illicit activity in the past have failed to bring change.

One of the 14 firms listed by ICIJ as providing offshore services is Trident Trust, with 346 Lebanese clients making up the largest group, more than double the second-place country, Britain.

One focus of the revelations is Riad Salameh, who has been Lebanon’s central bank governor for nearly 30 years.

Daraj reported that the documents showed Salameh founded a company called AMANIOR, based in the British Virgin Islands, in 2007. He is listed as its full owner and sole director, which Daraj said appeared to violate Lebanese laws forbidding the central bank governor from activity in any enterprise.

Salameh’s office told The Associated Press that the central bank governor has no comment on the documents. ICIJ quoted him as saying that he declares his assets and has complied with reporting obligations under Lebanese law.

Salameh, 70, is being investigated in Switzerland and France for potential money laundering and embezzlement. Local media reported over the past months that Salameh and his brother as well as one of his aides have been involved in illegal businesses, including money transfers abroad despite the capital controls imposed at home. Salameh had denied making such transfers.

Other documents showed that Marwan Kheireddine, chairman of Lebanon’s Al-Mawarid Bank, was involved in setting up a flurry of offshore businesses in the months just before the economic crisis hit in late 2019. In November that year, his bank and others began imposing capital controls that meant Lebanese could pull very little money out of their accounts even as the currency crashed, wrecking their savings’ value.

The Pandora Papers reveal that in 2019, Kheireddine received control of an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands, which he then used to buy a $2 million yacht.

In January 2019, he and his brother set up four firms in Britain on the same day, all based at the same London address, and all registered as “small companies,” which Daraj said meant they are exempt from auditing. In 2020, Kheireddine bought a $9.9 million New York penthouse sold by American actress Jennifer Lawrence, Lebanese media reported at the time.

Kheireddine is a former Cabinet minister and a senior member of the Lebanese Democratic Party. He did not respond to calls and a text message by the AP.

Prime Minister Mikati, a businessman who formed a new government last month, has owned a Panama-based offshore company since the 1990s. He used it in 2008 to buy property in Monaco worth more than $10 million, Daraj reported from the documents.

The leaked documents also show that his son Maher was a director of at least two British Virgin Islands-based companies, which his father’s Monaco-based company, M1 Group, used to obtain an office in central London.

Mikati released a statement saying his family fortune was amassed prior to his involvement in politics and was “compliant with global standards” and regularly scrutinized by auditors. Contacted by the AP, Mikati’s media adviser Fares Gemayel said he had no comment.

Speaking to Daraj, Maher Mikati said it was common for people in Lebanon to use offshore companies “due to the easy process of incorporation” and denied the purpose was to evade taxes.

Mikati’s predecessor as prime minister, Hassan Diab, was a co-owner of a shell company in the British Virgin Islands, Daraj reported.

Diab’s office said in a statement Monday that he helped establish the company in 2015, but it did not do any business and he resigned from the firm and gave up his shares in 2019.

“Is the setting up of a company against the law?” the statement said.

Diab’s government resigned days after a massive Aug. 4, 2020, blast in Beirut that killed and injured hundreds and destroyed the city’s port and nearby neighborhoods. Diab was charged with intentional killings and negligence in the case. He denies any wrongdoing but has refused to be questioned by the judge leading the investigation.

MORE ON THE 'PANDORA PAPERS'

– Leaked records open a 'Pandora' box of financial secrets

– Jordanian king's properties undercut father figure image

– Pandora Papers leak prompts calls for action in Asia

Hezbollah hammered with criticism amid Lebanon’s crises

By BASSEM MROUE

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FILE - In this May 31, 2019 file photo, Hezbollah fighters march at a rally to mark Jerusalem day, in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon. As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty and collapse, many Lebanese are more openly criticizing the Iran-backed Hezbollah, blaming it for its role in the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country. This includes a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicines and fuel that has paralyzed the country. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)


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BEIRUT (AP) — Driving back to base after firing rockets toward Israeli positions from a border area last month, a group of Hezbollah fighters was accosted by angry villagers who smashed their vehicles’ windshields and held them up briefly.

It was a rare incident of defiance that suggested many in Lebanon would not tolerate provocations by the powerful group that risk triggering a new war with Israel.

As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty, many Lebanese are more openly criticizing Iran-backed Hezbollah. They blame the group — along with the ruling class — for the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel.

“Hezbollah is facing its most consequential challenge in maintaining control over the Lebanese system and what is called the ‘protective environment of the resistance’ against Israel,” said Joe Macaron, a Washington-based Middle East analyst.




Motorcycle drivers wait to get fuel at a gas station in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Lebanon is struggling amid a two-year economic and financial crisis that the World Bank has described as among the worst the world has witnessed since the mid-1850s. The crisis has left Lebanese suffering from severe shortages in fuel and basic goods like baby formula, medicine and spare parts. 

(AP Photo/ Hassan Ammar)


The incident along the border and other confrontations — including a deadly shooting at the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter and rare indirect criticism by the country’s top Christian religious leader — have left the group on the defensive.

The anger has spread in recent months, even in Hezbollah strongholds where many have protested electricity cuts and fuel shortages as well as the currency crash that has plunged more than half the country’s 6 million people into penury.

In its strongholds, predominantly inhabited by Shiite Muslims, it is not uncommon now for people to speak out against the group. They note that Hezbollah is paying salaries in U.S. dollars at a time when most Lebanese get paid in Lebanese currency, which has lost more than 90% of its value in nearly two years.

Protests and scuffles have broken out at gas stations around Lebanon and in some Hezbollah strongholds. In rare shows of defiance, groups of protesters have also closed key roads in those areas south of Beirut and in southern Lebanon.

In recent speeches, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has appeared angry, blaming the shortages on what he describes as an undeclared Western siege. The chaos in Lebanon, he said, is being instigated from a “black room” inside the U.S. Embassy.

Critics say that rather than push for reform, Hezbollah has stood by its political allies who resist change. They say the group is increasingly pulling Lebanon into Iran’s orbit by doing its bidding, and that U.S. sanctions against Iran and Hezbollah have made things harder.

Where Hezbollah was once considered an almost sacred, untouchable force fighting for a noble cause — the fight against the Israeli enemy — it is now seen by many simply as part of the corrupt political clique responsible for the country’s epic meltdown. Still, when it comes to fighting Israel, the group enjoys unwavering backing within its base of support.

FILE - This Aug. 5, 2020 file photo, shows the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon. As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty and collapse, many Lebanese are more openly criticizing the Iran-backed Hezbollah, blaming it for its role in the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country. This includes a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicines and fuel that has paralyzed the country. 

(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Often criticized for operating as a state within a state, Hezbollah has tried to ease the effects of the crisis on its supporters in similar fashion.

While the government has been working for months to issue ration cards to poor families, Hezbollah has been well ahead. It has issued two such cards to poor families living in Hezbollah bastions, one called Sajjad after the name of a Shiite imam, and a second called Nour, or light, for its fighters and employees of its institutions who number about 80,000.

“We will serve you with our eyelashes,” is Hezbollah’s slogan to serve the extremely poor in its communities — a Lebanese term meaning they are ready to sacrifice anything to help others.

The tens of thousands carrying Sajjad cards not only can buy highly subsidized products from dozens of shops spread around Lebanon — mostly staples made in Lebanon, Iran and Syria — but can also get medical treatment and advice at 48 Hezbollah-run clinics around Lebanon.

Nasrallah is also organizing a sea corridor carrying oil from Iran to Lebanon to help alleviate the fuel shortages, with the first tanker believed to be on its way. The move has been praised by Hezbollah’s supporters and heavily criticized by its opponents, who say it risks bringing more sanctions on Lebanon.

In the border incident, villagers from the minority Druze sect intercepted Hezbollah fighters on their way back after firing rockets toward a disputed area held by Israel. The villagers briefly detained them and the mobile rocket launcher they used after accusing them of putting them at risk if Israel strikes back.

The fighters and the launcher were then handed over to Lebanese troops, who released them on the same day.

Later, Hezbollah angered many Christians after supporters launched a social media campaign against the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Catholic church, the country’s largest, accusing him of treason after he criticized the group for firing the rockets on Israeli positions.

The widely feared group has been hammered by accusations from its local opponents. They include silencing its opponents, facilitating smuggling of fuel and other subsidized items to neighboring Syria, and alienating oil-rich Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, leading them to halt financial assistance because of Hezbollah’s dominance of Lebanon.

The most serious charge has been a claim by opponents at home that the group brought in the hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded at Beirut’s port last year, killing at least 214 people, wounding thousands and destroying parts of the capital.

No direct connection to Hezbollah has emerged, but unsubstantiated theories that tie the group to the stockpile abound. One claim is that Hezbollah imported the chemicals on behalf of the Syrian government, which used them in barrel bombs against rebel-held areas during the neighboring country’s 10-year conflict.

“Hezbollah’s agencies are active at the port and this is known to security agencies and all Lebanese. Why is Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah above questioning?” asked Samy Gemayel, head of the right-wing Christian Kataeb Party recently.

Hezbollah has repeatedly denied any link to the ammonium nitrate. But Nasrallah further angered families of the victims and other Lebanese recently by criticizing the judge leading the investigation into the blast, suggesting he should be replaced. Nasrallah described Judge Tarek Bitar as “politicized” after he filed charges against some legislators and former Cabinet ministers allied with Hezbollah.

“There is an attempt to satanize Hezbollah and tarnish its image,” said Lebanese University political science professor Sadek Naboulsi. The professor, who has ties to the group, accused foreign powers including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the U.S. of seeking to incite internal strife between Lebanon’s Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities with the aim of weakening Hezbollah. He added that Hezbollah had overcome such pressures in the past and emerged more powerful.

A serious test for Hezbollah came in early August when a funeral of a militant came under fire by suspected Sunni gunmen on the southern entrance of Beirut. Three Hezbollah supporters were killed and 16 were wounded in the shooting in the town of Khaldeh.

Hezbollah did not retaliate and instead called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the case.

“An increasing number of Lebanese are realizing that the concept of a Lebanese state cannot coexist with a powerful armed militia serving an outside power,” wrote Michael Young, editor of Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Macaron said Hezbollah will not be the same after the crisis and will have to adapt to ensure political survival in the long term.

“What they can do at this point is to limit losses as much as possible,” he said.