Port blast investigation row tests Lebanon’s government

GROWING tension over a judicial probe into last year’s Beirut port blast threatens to push Lebanon into yet another political crisis, testing Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s new government as it struggles to dig the country out of economic collapse.

More than a year since the explosion ripped through Beirut, killing more than 200 people, Judge Tarek Bitar’s efforts to hold senior officials to account for suspected negligence are facing mounting political pushback.

Ministers aligned with the politicians Bitar has sought to question, were expected to press the demand for his removal at a cabinet meeting yesterday, after the subject disrupted a session on Tuesday. But the session was postponed until a framework to tackle the row would be agreed, an official source said.

Mikati took office last month after more than a year of squabbling over cabinet seats as Lebanon sank deeper into one of the world’s worst economic depressions, analysts say.

The row has also underlined the major sway of the Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah, which has called for

Bitar to be replaced, accusing him of conducting a politicised probe picking on certain people.

The most senior politician Bitar has sought to question, former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, said all options were open for political escalation when asked on Tuesday whether some ministers could quit.

Mikati has previously said Lebanon could not bear the loss of a second judge after the first investigator was removed in February when a court accepted a complaint questioning his impartiality.

Foreign states from which Lebanon hopes to secure aid have called for a transparent investigation into the blast, caused by a huge quantity of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate.

The US State Department has accused Hezbollah of threatening the judiciary.

The former officials Bitar has sought to question, deny any wrongdoing.

Bitar’s critics say he has breached the constitution by pursuing senior officials against whom any cases should pass through a special process for presidents and ministers.