Today marks five years since the catastrophic Beirut port explosion.
To honour the victims, operations at the port are set to come to a halt this evening, when thousands are expected to march toward the blast site and pause for a minute’s silence at 6:07 pm, the time when the original blast took place.
In 2020, the city was rocked by a detonation of nearly 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Warehouse 12 within the city’s port. The blast claimed at least 218 lives, injured over 6,000 people, and displaced roughly 300,000 residents, inflicting over $15 billion in damage.
The court case examining the cause of the blast was recently reopened, and newly elected President Joseph Aoun announced this morning that “justice is coming.” He continued, “justice will not die, and accountability is coming without a doubt…The Lebanese state and its entire institutions are committed to uncovering the full truth, no matter the hurdles or ranks of those involved. Justice makes no exceptions, and the law applies to everyone without discrimination.”
