Five years after Beirut port blast, Lebanon president promises justice
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday vowed justice and accountability five years after a catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s port, as the investigating judge finished questioning defendants, a judicial official said.Nobody has been held accountable for the August 4, 2020 blast — one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, which devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500.Authorities have said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation this year as Lebanon’s balance of power shifted following a war between Israel and Hezbollah that weakened the Iran-backed militant group, which had spearheaded a campaign for Bitar’s resignation.Aoun said the Lebanese state “is committed to uncovering the whole truth, no matter the obstacles or how high the positions” involved.”The law applies to all, without exception,” Aoun said in a statement.Monday has been declared a day of national mourning, and rallies demanding justice are planned later in the day, converging on the port.”The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain,” the president told victims’ families, adding: “Justice is coming, accountability is coming.”- ‘Transparency’ -After resuming work following a more than two-year impasse, Bitar has finished questioning defendants and suspects, a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity.Those questioned include former prime minister Hassan Diab, as well as military and security officials, while several former ministers did not appear for questioning, the official said.Bitar is waiting for some procedures to be completed, including receiving responses from several Arab and European countries following a request for “information on specific incidents”, the official added, without elaborating.The judge will then finalise the investigation and refer the file to the public prosecution for its opinion before he issues an indictment, the official said.President Aoun said that “we are working with all available means to ensure the investigations are completed with transparency and integrity”.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former International Court of Justice judge, said on Sunday that knowing the truth and ensuring accountability were national issues, decrying decades of official impunity.Aoun and Salam took office earlier this year, in the wake of the Israel-Hezbollah war, with both leaders pledging to uphold judicial independence.Officials named in the investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to prevent it from going forward.Nobody is currently in custody over the case.- ‘Chain of responsibility’ -Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement on Monday that “despite the resumption of the investigation, the road to justice remains littered with political and legal challenges”.They urged authorities to ensure a comprehensive, unobstructed investigation that establishes “the facts and circumstances surrounding the explosion, encompassing the full chain of responsibility”, whether domestic or international.Mariana Fodoulian from the association of victims’ families said that “for five years, officials have been trying to evade accountability, always thinking they are above the law.””We’re not asking for anything more than the truth,” she told AFP.”We won’t stop until we get comprehensive justice.”On Sunday, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the port’s gutted and partially collapsed wheat silos would be included on a list of historic buildings.Victims’ families have long demanded their preservation as a memorial of the catastrophe.”The silos are the only witness to what happened on August 4,” said Fodoulian.United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, on Monday urged authorities to “take all necessary action to expedite progress in judicial proceedings related to the explosion”.The US, British and French embassies in Lebanon urged justice and accountability in statements on X.The European Union on Sunday welcomed recent steps “that have enabled progress in the investigation”, noting that “ending impunity is essential for Lebanon’s recovery.”
China’s Baidu to deploy robotaxis on rideshare app Lyft
Chinese internet giant Baidu plans to launch its robotaxis on rideshare app Lyft in Germany and Britain in 2026, pending regulatory approval, the two companies said on Monday. Last month, Baidu announced a similar agreement with Uber in Asia and the Middle East as it seeks to take pole position in the competitive autonomous driving field both at home and abroad.Lyft and Baidu said Monday that “in the following years” the fleet of Apollo Go driverless cars will be expanded to thousands of vehicles across Europe.They did not specify which other countries the cars would be deployed in, and it was not clear how long it might take to gain regulatory approval for the initial deployment.Driverless taxis are already on some roads with limited capacity in the United States and China, most notably in the central city of Wuhan, where a fleet of over 500 can be hailed by app in designated areas.Their reach is spreading, with Shanghai’s financial district Pudong recently announcing a batch of permits for multiple companies to operate robotaxis.China’s tech companies and automakers have poured billions of dollars into self-driving technology in recent years, with intelligent driving the new battleground in the country’s cutthroat domestic car market.Baidu is not alone among Chinese companies in searching to expand its foothold abroad. Its rival WeRide is also active in the Gulf region, and in January announced it had been picked to lead a small pilot project in Switzerland. Pony.AI, another Chinese company, said in May that it had signed a deal to launch its self-driving taxis on Uber in “a key market in the Middle East later this year”.San Francisco-based Lyft in April said it had agreed to buy German taxi app Freenow, planting a flag in the European market.The acquisition marked Lyft’s “most significant expansion outside North America”, the group said.
Israel wants world attention on hostages held in Gaza
Israel said Monday the plight of hostages held in Gaza should top the global agenda, after Palestinian militants released videos showing them looking emaciated, heightening fears for their lives after nearly 22 months in captivity.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a press briefing ahead of the UN Security Council session on the issue, said that “the world must put an end to the phenomenon of kidnapping civilians. It must be front and centre on the world stage”.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing Gaza war, 49 are still held in the Palestinian territory, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.The UN session was called after Palestinian militant group Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad published last week three videos showing hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David appearing weak and emaciated, causing deep shock and distress in Israel.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under mounting international pressure to halt the war, said on Sunday he was “shocked” by the “horror videos of our precious sons”.Netanyahu said he had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which oversaw past hostage releases during short-lived truces, to provide food and medical treatment to the Israeli captives.Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said it was willing to allow Red Cross access to the hostages in exchange for permanent humanitarian access for food and medicine into all of Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned famine was unfolding.The ICRC said in a statement it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and reiterated its “call to be granted access to the hostages”.- ‘Only through a deal’ -Netanyahu’s government has faced repeated accusations by relatives of hostages and other critics of not doing enough to rescue the captives.”Netanyahu is leading Israel and the hostages to ruin,” said a campaign group representing families of the captives.In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that “for 22 months, the public has been sold the illusion that military pressure and intense fighting will bring the hostages back.””The truth must be said: expanding the war endangers the lives of the hostages, who are already in immediate mortal danger.”Mediation efforts led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure an elusive truce.On Saturday, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to call on the government to secure the release of the remaining hostages.Hundreds of retired Israeli security officials including former heads of intelligence agencies have urged US President Donald Trump to pressure their own government to end the war.”It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the former officials wrote in an open letter shared with the media on Monday.The war, nearing its 23rd month, “is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service, in a video released to accompany the letter.The letter argued that the Israeli military “has long accomplished the two objectives that could be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas’s military formations and governance.””The third, and most important, can only be achieved through a deal: bringing all the hostages home,” it added.- ‘We are starving’ -Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,933 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which are deemed reliable by the UN.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire on Monday killed at least 15 Palestinians, including eight who were waiting to collect food aid from a site in central Gaza.In Gaza City, Umm Osama Imad was mourning a relative she said was killed while trying to reach an aid distribution point.”We are starving… He went to bring flour for his family,” she said.”The flour is stained with blood. We don’t want the flour anymore. Enough!”Further south, in Deir el-Balah, Palestinian man Abdullah Abu Musa told AFP his daughter and her family were killed in an Israeli strike.Decyring the attack on “young children”, he said that “perhaps the world will wake up — but it never will”.
Philippine, Indian navies begin first joint South China Sea patrols
Indian Navy warships have begun patrolling areas of the disputed South China Sea with their Philippine counterparts for the first time, Manila’s military said Monday, as President Ferdinand Marcos departed for a state visit to New Delhi.The two-day sail includes three Indian vessels and started Sunday, a day before Marcos left on a trip that will include talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The Philippines has heightened defence cooperation with a range of allies over the past year after a series of clashes in the South China Sea.Beijing claims nearly the entirety of the waterway despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.India’s naval vessels, including the guided missile destroyer INS Delhi, arrived in Manila for a port visit late last week.The patrol “started yesterday afternoon, then it’s ongoing up to this moment… the activity at the moment is replenishment at sea,” Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Salgado told AFP.China in response accused Manila of “drawing in external countries to stir up trouble” in the South China Sea.The joint patrol “undermines regional peace and stability”, said Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesperson of the Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command.He said Beijing had conducted “routine patrols” in the South China Sea on Sunday and Monday, and remained on “high alert”.While in India, Marcos is expected to sign pacts in such fields as law, culture and technology, according to foreign affairs assistant secretary Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, but all eyes will be on any potential defence agreements.Before departing Monday, Marcos praised the two countries’ “steadfastness in upholding international maritime law, including the UNCLOS”, the UN treaty granting an exclusive economic zone within 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) of a country’s shores.The Philippines has previously purchased BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India, a weapon which has a top speed of 3,450 kilometres (2,140 miles) per hour.India, which has engaged in border clashes with China in the Himalayas, is a member of the so-called Quad, a group that includes fellow democracies the United States, Japan and Australia.Beijing has repeatedly alleged that the four-way partnership, first conceived by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, was created as a way of containing China.
Cinq ans après l’explosion du port de Beyrouth, le président libanais promet la justice
Le président libanais Joseph Aoun a promis lundi que la justice serait rendue, cinq ans après la gigantesque explosion sur le port de Beyrouth sur laquelle l’enquête n’a toujours pas abouti.Le 4 août 2020, l’une des plus grandes explosions non nucléaires de l’histoire a dévasté des quartiers entiers de la capitale libanaise, faisant plus de 220 morts et 6.500 blessés.Cette catastrophe, devenue le symbole de la culture de l’impunité, a été déclenchée par un incendie dans un entrepôt où étaient stockées sans précaution des tonnes de nitrate d’ammonium servant d’engrais, malgré des avertissements répétés aux plus hauts responsables.Joseph Aoun a déclaré lundi que l’Etat libanais était “engagé à dévoiler toute la vérité, peu importent les obstacles ou les positions élevées impliquées”.Lundi a été déclaré jour de deuil national et des rassemblements réclamant la justice doivent converger vers le port, où les silhouettes des silos de blé éventrés s’élèvent toujours entre les grues et les conteneurs.”La loi s’applique à tous, sans exception”, a affirmé le président dans un communiqué, en promettant “transparence et intégrité” dans l’enquête.”Le sang de vos proches ne sera pas versé en vain”, a-t-il dit en s’adressant aux familles des victimes, ajoutant: “La justice arrive, la responsabilité arrive”.- Nombreux “défis” -Un premier juge chargé en 2020 de l’enquête avait jeté l’éponge après avoir inculpé l’ex-Premier ministre, Hassan Diab, et trois anciens ministres.Le juge indépendant Tarek Bitar avait repris l’enquête qu’il avait dû à son tour interrompre en janvier 2023, se heurtant à l’hostilité d’une grande partie de la classe politique, notamment du Hezbollah qui l’accusait d’impartialité, avant d’être poursuivi pour insubordination. Après plus de deux ans d’impasse, le juge a repris ses travaux en début d’année. Il a à présent terminé ses interrogatoires, dont ceux de Hassan Diab et de responsables militaires et des services de sécurité, tandis que plusieurs anciens ministres convoqués ne se sont pas présentés, a déclaré à l’AFP un responsable judiciaire sous couvert d’anonymat.Le magistrat attend notamment une réponse à des demandes d’information adressées en juillet à plusieurs pays arabes et européens, selon ce responsable. Le dossier une fois finalisé devra être transmis au parquet pour avis avant d’éventuelles inculpations, a-t-il ajouté. Le Premier ministre Nawaf Salam, ancien juge à la Cour internationale de justice, a déclaré dimanche que connaître la vérité était “une question nationale”, dénonçant des décennies d’impunité officielle.L’enquête du juge Bitar a pu reprendre après l’entrée en fonction du président Aoun et de son Premier ministre, qui ont promis de préserver l’indépendance de la justice, à la suite de la guerre entre Israël et le Hezbollah dont le mouvement chiite soutenu par l’Iran est sorti très affaibli à l’automne.Human Rights Watch et Amnesty International ont souligné lundi que “le chemin vers la justice reste parsemé de défis politiques et judiciaires”, malgré la reprise de l’enquête.- “Seuls témoins” -Mariana Fodoulian, de l’association des familles des victimes, a affirmé que “pendant cinq ans, les responsables ont tenté d’échapper à leurs responsabilités, pensant toujours qu’ils sont au-dessus des lois”. “Nous ne demandons rien de plus que la vérité”, a-t-elle déclaré à l’AFP, ajoutant: “Nous n’arrêterons pas tant que nous n’aurons pas obtenu une justice globale”.La coordinatrice spéciale de l’ONU pour le Liban, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, a appelé lundi les autorités à “prendre toutes les mesures nécessaires pour accélérer les procédures judiciaires liées à l’explosion”.Les ambassades américaine et britannique ont appelé à ce que les responsabilités soient établies tandis que l’Union européenne avait souligné dimanche que “mettre fin à l’impunité est essentiel pour le redressement du Liban”.Dimanche, le ministre de la Culture, Ghassan Salamé, a déclaré que les silos de blé partiellement effondrés seraient inclus dans une liste de bâtiments historiques. Les familles des victimes réclament depuis longtemps leur préservation comme mémorial. “Les silos sont les seuls témoins de ce qui s’est passé le 4 août”, a souligné Mme Fodoulian.