The blast has fueled anger at Lebanon’s ruling politicians who were already facing criticism over a financial meltdown that has sunk the currency.
The United States called on Saturday for a transparent and credible investigation into the massive port blast in Beirut that killed 178 people and said Lebanon could never go back to the days „in which anything goes“ at its ports and borders. The August 4 blast, which the authorities say was caused by more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been unsafely stored at the port for years, injured 6,000 people, ruined entire neighborhoods and left 300,000 homeless. „We can never go back to an era in which anything goes at the port or the borders of Lebanon that had to contribute to this situation,“ said David Hale, UN Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, after visiting the port. He added that FBI agents would be arriving this weekend, at the invitation of Lebanon, to help investigate what led to the explosion. The blast has fueled anger at Lebanon’s ruling politicians who were already facing criticism over a financial meltdown that has sunk the currency, demolished the value of savings and left depositors unable to withdraw their money.
