Pope Francis sends donation to Beirut for explosion recovery

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Pope Francis has sent a donation of 250,000 euros ($295,488) in aid to the Church in Lebanon to help with recovery efforts after the devastating explosion which occurred in the capital city of Beirut earlier this week.

Electric night of Lebanon protests after blast

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by AFP -- Layal Abou Rahal and Tony Gamal-Gabriel -- Lebanese protesters stormed several ministries Saturday in apparently planned raids after an explosion blamed on government negligence at Beirut port devastated the city and ignited unprecedented popular rage. The day started with funerals for some of the 158 people killed by Tuesday's monster blast but turned to rage when the largest anti-government protest in months escalated. With security forces focused on a large gathering at the Martyrs' Square protest hub, a group led by retired army officers snuck into the foreign ministry and declared the building a "headquarters of the revolution". The stunt, which marked a new development in the strategy of a protest camp whose October 17 uprising had lost steam lately, was facilitated by the damage the port blast shockwave had inflicted to the building. But the takeover lasted barely three hours.

Large army reinforcements using rubber bullets and tear gas drove out the roughly 200 protesters, who only had time to chant celebratory slogans against the government and burn a portrait of President Michel Aoun. At one point, protesters had stormed or taken over four key official buildings. "We are officially at war with our government," said activist Hayat Nazer, as tear gas filled the air in downtown Beirut. "This is war." - 'Lebanon is ours' -

Separate groups of protesters also stormed the economy ministry, the Association of Banks in Lebanon and the energy ministry before being forced out by the army shortly afterwards. The latter is the focus of particular anger from the population, which has in recent months been subjected to worse than ever power cuts due to the de facto bankruptcy of the state. "They ruled Lebanon for 30 years, now Lebanon is ours," said one protester speaking on live Lebanese television broadcasts. "We entered the energy ministry and we are here to stay. They will be surprised by our actions," he said, referring to the ruling political class protesters want to remove.

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United States Provides Humanitarian Assistance in Response to Explosions in Lebanon

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by politico.com -- ELISA BRAUN -- PARIS — President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke over the phone Friday about working with other countries to send immediate aid to Lebanon, the White House and the Élysée said. The two leaders “expressed their deep sadness over the loss of life and devastation in Beirut,” according to White House spokesman Judd Deere. Advertisement Later Friday, Trump tweeted: "Had a lengthy discussion this morning with President Macron of France concerning numerous subjects, but in particular the catastrophic event which took place in Beirut, Lebanon... "..At 3pm this afternoon, spoke to President Aoun of Lebanon to inform him that 3 large aircraft are on the way, loaded up with Medical Supplies, Food and Water. Also, First Responders, Technicians, Doctors, and Nurses on the way... "...We will be having a conference call on Sunday with President Macron, leaders of Lebanon, and leaders from various other parts of the world. Everyone wants to help!"

by reliefweb.int -- The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing more than $15 million in humanitarian assistance to aid the people of Lebanon following catastrophic explosions at the Port of Beirut. These funds bring the humanitarian aid provided by the American people in Lebanon since September 2019 to a total of $403 million. With the funds announced today, the United States is financing life-saving medical responses and providing humanitarian assistance to meet the immediate needs of families affected by this tragic disaster, including food aid for 50,000 people for three months. USAID has also requested the unique capabilities of the U.S. Department of Defense to transport emergency supplies to Lebanon, including enough medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to support up to 60,000 people for three months.

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Lebanon mourns victims of Beirut blast, even as more dead are found

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Joe Akiki cross in the rubble 

by washingtonpost.com -- Miriam Berger -- Joe Akiki, 23, called his mother Tuesday afternoon to tell her he was about to start a 24-hour shift at his job as an electrician at Beirut’s port. Three hours later, he shared to a group chat a video of a fire at the port. Then he went silent. Three days after massive explosions that leveled a section of Beirut on Tuesday, he was still missing. His distraught mother pleaded on Lebanese TV for his return. “I will keep on waiting because I know that Joe Akiki is strong, Joe Akiki is a hero,” she told MTV, a Lebanese broadcaster. “Joe Akiki has been through worse things and has been able, with the help of God, to overcome them.” She decried Lebanon’s politicians, saying their children would be home by now. Akiki had taken the job, she said, to pay off university fees. He had wanted to leave Lebanon, but she had told him to stay and “water the cedar trees” — the country’s symbol. Hours later, civil defense workers pulled Akiki’s body out of the rubble. On social media, tributes poured in for the port worker. He had watered the cedars, one user wrote, with his blood.

the sister of Nicole el Helou

The explosions left at least 154 people dead and thousands injured. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said they were caused by the ignition of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer and bombmaking ingredient, improperly stored since 2014. In Lebanon, already beset by the novel coronavirus pandemic, along with political and economic crises, many people are seething over the apparent negligence that allowed the material to remain in the center of the city. As bodies continue to be pulled from rubble and identified at morgues, the country grieves for and has begun to memorialize the departed. Victims of the blasts in Beirut, a city beloved for its cosmopolitanism, span nationalities There are the 10 firefighters who snapped a group photo before heading to extinguish the first of the flames at the port, only to be engulfed in the explosions that followed. The husband and wife killed while eating at a restaurant in the trendy Gemmayzeh neighborhood. The three young military service members at the port who never made it home. One of them was a father of two young children, according to local media.

There is the Armenian Lebanese nurse killed while on the job at Al Roum hospital, as the Armenian Foreign Ministry told local media. Bank employee Nicole al-Helou, whose sister draped herself over her coffin during a funeral Thursday in southern Lebanon. Across the country of about 5 million, some bereaved families are burying their loved ones. Others continue frantic searches for the missing. Some, as Akiki’s mother did, hold on to hope that their son or daughter will turn up alive, even as the chances dim. Adding to the trauma, residents have taken on much of the cleanup themselves, expecting little support for rebuilding from their cash-strapped and indebted government. “Today we are distraught and lost for words, but we are also angry and furious at the monsters responsible for this unfathomable madness!” wrote one grieving family member in a tribute on Facebook.

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Amid Deadly Blast in Beirut, Lebanese Turn to Maronite Catholic Saint for Healing

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By Alexandra Moyen ROSEDALE -- thetablet.org -- — After a deadly blast in Beirut, Lebanon injured more than 5,000 and killed roughly 135, Christian Lebanese are likely to turn to St. Charbel for his miraculous healing. In a country where 60 percent of the population is Muslim and nearly thirty-five percent are Christian, most of whom are Maronite Catholics, St. Charbel is a powerful saint to pray to. The Shrine of St. Charbel in Annaya receives roughly four million visitors a year. Here, lies the remains of the renowned priest-monk and his artifacts and relics. Pilgrims can also visit a monastery within the shrine where the saint was known to live and work for roughly 20 years. Since 1950, when the monastery began to formally record miraculous healings, they have archived over 29,000 miracles. The miraculous Lebanese saint, revered by Christians and Muslims alike, was born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf on May 8, 1828, in Bekaa Kafra, North Lebanon where he was also baptized as a Catholic Maronite. Attracted from a young age to hermit life and saints became his first-year novitiate at Our Lady of Mayfouk Monastery in Mount Lebanon in 1851. After being ordained a priest in 1859, St. Charbel became a hermit in 1875 and entered the Hermitage of St. Peter and St. Paul in Annaya, Mount Lebanon where he died on December 24, 1898. The next day, he was buried at St. Maroun’s Monastery but his tomb was opened due to a bright and dazzling light coming out of the tomb. When opened on April 15, 1899, St. Charbel’s body was found to be intact and to be exuding blood-like moisture for the next 67 years.

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Beirut port manager among 16 held in blast probe, judicial source say

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by bloomberg.com -- Dana Khraiche and Ania Nussbaum -- As French President Emmanuel Macron walked through downtown Beirut to express solidarity with a nation reeling from its worst peacetime disaster, he was hailed as a savior. The images, broadcast live around the world, are bound to stir conversation back in France, where Macron is frequently under fire for being tone deaf and his popularity is only just recovering from Yellow Vests protests and controversial reform plans. Wearing a black tie to honor those killed by a devastating explosion at the country’s main port, the French leader visited Gemmayzeh, a popular residential and commercial street where centuries-old buildings suffered extensive damage. Throngs of men and women crowded round, begging him to help lift their country, a former French protectorate, out of its misery. At one point, Macron — wearing a mask in a nation experiencing a coronavirus surge — pushed aside a bodyguard to hug a woman. “Help us. Please help us, what are you going to do to help us,” shouted one man, as he wept.

A vast consignment of ammonium nitrate stored at the port ignited Tuesday in an explosion so powerful it left behind a trail of destruction that stretched for miles. At least 135 people were killed, thousands more wounded and 300,000 are now homeless. The damage is estimated at $5 billion, money Lebanon doesn’t have. Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit, Macron called for an international investigation to determine the causes of the blast. “We need an open, transparent international probe to make sure nothing remains hidden and no doubts linger,” he said. The French leader is trying to show solidarity with the Lebanese people without endorsing a political class that led the country into financial meltdown through decades of corrruption and mismanagement — customs authorities warned long ago against keeping such flammable material in the warehouse and the fury against the administration was palpable. “Please don’t give money to our corrupt government,” one woman yelled. Macron turned to her and replied, “Don’t worry about that.” Macron promised he’ll be organizing international aid while also pushing for political change. “I came this morning to help, and I will speak to all political factions to ask them for a new pact,” he said. He refused to rule out sanctions against the Lebanese government, though he emphasized that’s not a priority at this point. He said Lebanese banks need to come clean about their losses to release international loans that are critical to maintaining food supplies. A group of seven explosive experts are in the country to aid investigators in their probe into the blast. Medical aid and civil defense teams are in place. The French helicopter carrier `Le Tonerre’ will arrive next week with more supplies.

Macron’s welcome speaks volumes about the ruling elite of Lebanon that’s largely shied from such highly publicized walkabouts, and couldn’t be more different from how Macron’s been greeted in other former colonies on recent visits. It points up the French president’s ambition to position himself as a global leader in a region where Russia and the U.S. have held the balance of power in recent years and Turkey is flexing its muscles. When former Prime Minister Saad Hariri toured the downtown area to see the damage for himself, he met with a group of angry people cleaning up rubble and helping those in need. And Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm was met with shouts of “resign, resign, don't you have dignity?” as she attempted to visit shattered homes. As residents followed her, she tried hiding in one of the damaged buildings before the army came to her rescue. Other officials, including President Michel Aoun, inspected only the port.

by Reuters -- Lebanese authorities investigating a Beirut explosion that killed more than 150 people have taken the general manager of a port and 15 others into custody, sources say. State news agency NNA said 16 people were taken into custody, with a judicial source and local media saying Beirut Port general manager Hassan Koraytem was among them. The Prime Minister and presidency have said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years without safety measures at the port warehouse that blew up. Judge Fadi Akiki, a government representative at the military court, said authorities had questioned more than 18 port and customs officials and others involved in maintenance work at the warehouse, NNA reported. "Sixteen people have been taken into custody as part of the investigation," NNA quoted Mr Akiki as saying. He said the investigation was continuing. Earlier, the central bank said it froze the accounts of seven people including Mr Koraytem and the head of Lebanese customs.

The directive, dated August 6, from the central bank special investigation commission for money laundering and terrorism fighting said the decision would be circulated to all banks and financial institutions in Lebanon, the public prosecutor in the appeals court and the head of the banking authority. It said the freeze and lifting of banking secrecy would apply to accounts directly or indirectly linked to Mr Koraytem, Lebanese customs director-general Badri Daher and five others, including present and former port and customs officials. State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered a travel ban on the same seven individuals, a judicial source and local media reported. Mr Koraytem and Mr Daher had both told Lebanese broadcasters on Wednesday that several letters had been sent over the years to the country's judiciary requesting the removal of highly explosive material stored at the port, which blew up on Tuesday.

Anger mounts on the streets of Beirut.

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