People queue to withdraw cash from an ATM machine outside a bank in Beirut, Lebanon, on Jan. 20.JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images
Two and a half years ago, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded levelled the Port of Beirut and shredded other parts of Lebanon’s capital. The detonation of almost 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate haphazardly stored in a warehouse killed at least 218 people, injured more than 7,000 and damaged or destroyed some 77,000 apartments.
The effort to find who was responsible for the disaster has turned into a farce. This week, Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his inquiry into the explosion after its year-long suspension. He charged several senior officials, including a former prime minister, Hassan Diab, with obstruction of justice and other crimes. But Lebanon’s chief prosecutor pushed back, arguing that the inquiry was still under suspension and ordering the police not to abide by Judge Bitar’s arrest orders.
Sadly, high-level political resistance to the inquiry, which was entirely predictable in a state infamous for shielding its ruling class, seems the least of Lebanon’s problems.
Lebanon is on the verge of becoming a failed state after an economic collapse that is unprecedented in modern times. Ukraine’s GDP fell about 30 per cent last year, but Lebanon’s fell 58 per cent between 2019 and 2021, according to the World Bank – and Lebanon is not at war. The bank said Lebanese GDP will show a further loss of more than 5 per cent in…
