BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Lebanon on Sunday marks four years
since a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port killed more than 220 people,
with fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah hanging heavy over the
grim commemoration.

Several marches are set to converge on the port in the afternoon to remember
the victims and demand justice.

Nobody has been held responsible for the August 4, 2020 disaster -- one of
history's biggest non-nuclear explosions -- which also injured at least 6,500
people and devastated swathes of the capital.

Authorities said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a
stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been haphazardly stored for
years.

An investigation has stalled, mired in legal and political wrangling.

"The complete lack of accountability for such a manmade disaster is
staggering," United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-
Plasschaert said in a statement on Saturday.

"One would expect the concerned authorities to work tirelessly to lift all
barriers... but the opposite is happening," she said, calling for "an
impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation to deliver truth, justice,
and accountability".

In December 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister
Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence, but as political pressure
mounted, he was removed from the case.

His successor, Tarek Bitar, unsuccessfully asked lawmakers to lift
parliamentary immunity for MPs who were formerly cabinet ministers.

In December 2021, Bitar suspended his probe after a barrage of lawsuits,
while the powerful Hezbollah group has accused him of bias and demanded his
dismissal.

But in January last year, he resumed investigations, charging eight new
suspects including high-level security officials and Lebanon's top
prosecutor, who in turn charged Bitar with "usurping power" and ordered the
release of detainees in the case.

The process has since stalled again.

A judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Bitar
would "resume his proceedings, starting next week" and intends to finish "the
investigation and issue his indictment decision... by the end of the year".

Bitar will set dates for questioning defendants who have not yet appeared
before him, according to the official.

If the public prosecutor's office or other relevant judicial officials fail
to cooperate, Bitar "will issue arrest warrants in absentia" for the
defendants, the official added.

Activists have called for a UN fact-finding mission into the blast, but
Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected the demand.

Prospects of further disaster loom over this year's anniversary, with Hamas
ally Hezbollah and the Israeli army trading cross-border fire since the
Palestinian group's October 7 attack that triggered the Gaza war and fears
that an all-out conflict could engulf Lebanon.