Bitar questions two defendants in Beirut blast probe

The Lebanese judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion questioned two people on Friday in connection with the deadly blast after a years-long pause, a judicial official said.

Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation last month, charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel after a two-year hiatus in the probe into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon's capital.

Bitar on Friday questioned Rabih Srour, who was responsible for security at port warehouse 12, where hazardous materials including the ammonium nitrate that exploded were stored, the official said, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.

Bitar also questioned Salim Shebli, who owned the company tasked with carrying out welding work at the warehouse, the official said.

Security sources initially suggested welding work could have started the fire that triggered the blast, but experts have since dismissed the theory as unlikely and an attempt to shift the blame off high-level failings.

The probe stalled two years ago after Hezbollah accused Bitar of bias and demanded his dismissal, and after officials named in the investigation filed a flurry of lawsuits against him.

The resumption of work comes with Hezbollah's influence weakened after its recent war with Israel and follows the election of a Lebanese president after a more than two-year vacancy.

Bitar last questioned defendants over the blast in December 2021, the official said.

Hearings for three other people due to be questioned Friday were postponed, including one for medical reasons, the official said.

The owner of Savaro Ltd, which is believed to have purchased the ammonium nitrate and shipped it to Beirut port, did not appear for questioning, the official said, adding that the judge postponed a decision on the individual to a later date.

Bitar has scheduled a second session on Tuesday to question four current and former customs employees and officers, the official added.

Nobody has yet been held responsible for the blast, one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.