Lebanon is marking one year since the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut killed 218 people, injured 7,000 and destroyed or damaged 300,000 homes. Lebanon is now facing its worst economic crisis in history. Meanwhile, no one in the political leadership has been held accountable for leaving over 2,700 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer unattended at Beirut’s port. A new report by Human Rights Watch implicates senior Lebanese officials for failing to protect the public.
Aya Majzoub: “Culpability for the explosion still rests with those officials who knew the ammonium nitrate was being stored at the port in an unconscionable and dangerous manner, and failed to do what was within their authority and under their responsibility to secure or remove it.”