Bitar interrogates Ibrahim and Saliba in port blast case

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Friday interrogated former General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim in the case, in the latter’s first appearance before the magistrate.

Ibrahim appeared before the judge although he has filed a lawsuit against the state in connection with the case. He was later allowed to leave the Justice Palace pending further investigations.

"I came here to stress that the lawsuit against Judge Tarek Bitar is not aimed at obstructing investigations and to shed light on the violations committed by the judicial investigator," Ibrahim said after the session.

Sources close to Ibrahim told MTV that the interrogation session was "calm and smooth yet meticulous" and that it lasted for more than two hours.

Former State Security chief Tony Saliba later appeared before Bitar after having arrived from abroad.

Bitar resumed his investigation in January after a two-year pause, charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel.

The August 4, 2020 explosion, one of history’s biggest non-nuclear blasts, killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital.

The explosion was caused by the detonation of hundreds of tons of poorly-stored ammonium nitrate fertilizer following a blaze.

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.