Six Years On: Lebanon Remembers Beirut Blast Victims

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon on Tuesday marked the sixth anniversary of the Beirut port explosion with commemorative events across the capital, including a popular march and a memorial ceremony honoring the victims, as their families renewed demands for justice and full accountability for one of the country's deadliest tragedies.

The Beirut Port Administration and Operation Authority also commemorated the workers who lost their lives in the explosion, holding a memorial event at the General Administration building near Gate 14 of the port.

On the anniversary, the Media Commission of the Progressive Socialist Party issued a statement stressing that “six years after the Beirut port explosion, the truth remains out of reach,” while questioning the status of the judicial investigation and asking when Lebanese citizens would finally receive an indictment.

The party renewed its call for “revealing the truth without any delay,” expressing hope that an indictment would be issued soon, followed by trials that would lead to justice.

Meanwhile, National Accord Party leader Bilal Taqieddine described the August 4 explosion as “a great and painful tragedy,” saying that the memory of the disaster remains a source of suffering amid the absence of justice.

Taqieddine said that “nations cannot be built through forgetting or by moving forward without holding those responsible accountable and revealing the complete truth,” adding that “true loyalty to the blood of the martyrs remains in achieving justice and preventing the truth from being lost.”

On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion at the Port of Beirut claimed more than 200 lives, injured hundreds, and devastated large parts of the capital.

Triggered by a fire that ignited a stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored at the port, the explosion remains unresolved six years later, with investigations still ongoing and responsibility for the hazardous material yet to be determined.

The case has gained renewed attention following reports that ammonium nitrate bearing Hebrew markings was found in the southern Lebanese village of Houla, reviving questions over possible links to the Beirut port explosion and the potential role of the "Israeli" occupation in the disaster.