Figure 1. Port of Beirut, taken a few days after the explosion on 4 August 2020. Source: Unsplash.
Beirut, Lebanon- On 4 August 2020, right before the world was hit by a second COVID-19 wave of infections, the people of Beirut were struck by a tragedy that killed almost 200 and injured at least 5,000. The government of Lebanon declared a 2-week state of emergency, which resulted in many protests, due to the country’s corruption and absence of respect towards the law. The blast in the Port of Beirut, which started with white smoke coming out of Warehouse 12, quickly escalated into a 140m wide catastrophe, leaving approximately 300,000 people homeless. Today, five months after the blast, new information has surfaced, incriminating three Syrian businessmen.
According to the UK government website Companies House, George Haswani and the Khuri brothers- Mudalal and Imad, have been linked to the British company (Savaro Limited) that purchased 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in July 2013. Four months later, the highly explosive substance arrived at the Port of Beirut. An interesting fact to note is that, Haswani was sanctioned [1] by the United States government in 2014 for buying oil on behalf of the Syrian government from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The sanctions included freezing his American assets and forbidding Americans to conduct business with his company.
Imad’s involvement in the blast derives from his association with IK Petroleum Company Limited, a British company that shared the same address as Savaro Limited. Being the company’s director from 2013 to 2016, Imad was part of a series of laundering schemes. His brother, Mudalal, was also involved in these criminal activities.
Figure 2. Beirut, Lebanon. Source: Unsplash.
As crucial of a component Syrian’s involvement plays, the blast intensified the already existing fundamental issues in the political sphere of Lebanon. Corruption, terrorism, constant violations without any consequences and obstruction of justice have always been associated with Lebanon. Despite provisions in the Lebanese Criminal Code, Articles 314-16, 335, Criminal Procedure Law, Articles 51-127, the Civil Servants Regulations and the Labour Law. Additionally, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) expects from states, including but not restricted to Lebanon, to share democratic, anti-corruption policies that promote the proper execution of the Law. This means that, in addition to Lebanon’s laws against corruption, the United Nations is permitted to implement sanctions and other disciplinary or administrative measures if they deem necessary. Moreover, regarding reparation for the blast victims, restitutio in integrum, or the restoration of the injured party to their original state had the incident not occurred, is preferred under international law, mainly due to the provisions implemented by the UNCAC.
Figure 3. Damascus, Syria. Source: Unsplash
The involvement of Haswani and the Khuri brothers further established ties between the devastating blast at the Port of Beirut and Syria. The Lebanese government's never-ending corruption, which allowed the transferring, abandonment and, later, combustion of the ammonium nitrate, has and will continue to slow the investigative and judicial process for the Beirut explosion. Lebanon and Syria have always been entangled to each other. After the Ottoman Empire's fall in 1922, Lebanon and Syria were put under French mandate, linking their economies, until their independence in 1948. Following the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005, which is thought to had been organised by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [2], tensions between the countries intensified. Thus, this resulted in various political schemes affecting both the political and social lives of Lebanon and Syria.
[1] Sanctions refer to penalties and any other means of enforcing obedience to the law.
[2] An investigation conducted by the United Nations International Independent Investigation Committee (UNIIIC), revealed that the Syrian President’s phone is linked to the bombing that ended in Prime Minister Hariri’s death.
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