‘Nothing was done’: HRW blasts officials in Beirut blast report

Rights group calls for international probe and sanctions, slams officials’ failure for years to remove explosives.

Beirut, Lebanon – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has blasted Lebanese political and security officials for not removing explosive ammonium nitrate that caused a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port last year and said an international investigation and targeted sanctions were the “only path to justice” amid a stalled national probe. More than 200 people were killed, 6,500 were wounded, and several neighbourhoods were flattened when hundreds of tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate fertiliser stored in the port ignited on August 4, 2020. Some 2,750 tonnes of the highly explosive material had arrived at the port on Moldovan-flagged ship the Rhosus in late 2013 and were warehoused at the port. For years, senior political and security officials were aware of the shipment, including President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime Minister Hasan Diab, former ministers and a handful of senior military and security officials.