On August 5, 2020, one day after the massive blast in the port of Beirut, which caused immense devastation and thousands of dead and injured, Lebanese journalist Nader Fawz wrote a scathing column in the Lebanese independent online daily almodon.com in which he blamed the disaster on Lebanon's leadership. He wrote that "Lebanon's serial killers, the ones responsible for its security, its institutions and its decision-making, have completed their series of murders against the people," adding that no curse is bad enough to describe these "murderers" and "bloodsuckers."
Noting that the Lebanese have long since lost all faith in their authorities, but that this explosion was the last straw, he added that the hands of the state officials, chief of them Prime Minister Hassan Diab, are stained with the blood of the victims who died in this explosion, as well as countless other Lebanese who have died of hunger, disease and oppression. These officials, he concluded, must resign and be made to pay for their crimes, whether through the courts or in other ways.
Aftermath of Beirut port blast (source: dailystar.com.lb, August 4, 2020)
The following are excerpts from his article:[1]
"The Lebanese state created a time bomb and planted it in the port of Beirut, an area that all Lebanese, from every region and every sect, and of every political affiliation, visit and see. The state caused its citizens harm through the explosion of chemicals that were stored at the port several months ago [sic.] without the slightest sense of political or human responsibility. Lebanon's serial killers, the ones responsible for its security, its institutions and its decision-making, have completed their series of murders against the people. This time the killing was carried out directly, rather than through economic suffocation or torture that saps the morale. It was planned and premeditated, or at least known in advance. This act of murder was not an isolated incident. It is [part of] a system, part of an organized crime. It is a clear act of murder, a massacre carried out using ammonium nitrate that was stored at the port.
"Beirut port looks as though a meteor struck it, igniting a conflagration and causing shockwaves that were visible to the naked eye before they engulfed us, leaving destruction, fatalities and injuries in their wake. Beirut is a disaster-struck capital, its buildings ruined and its residents homeless. Shop windows were torn from their place and the entire city was reduced to a skeleton. The city had slowly expired over several months [due to the economic crisis]… leaving only a corpse… and then came this blast and destroyed the little flesh that was still clinging [on its bones]. The districts of Al-Gemmayzeh, Badaro and Ras Beirut are now completely devastated. The number of victims is still unknown, but the sight of dust-covered corpses in the port indicates that the number is vast. Some were buried where they stood, others were felled in their offices, in their chairs or in their cars. This blast harmed everyone, the entire city and country.
"The explosion at the port was the last nail in the coffin of Beirut, which died when the [entire] state died, after falling into the hands of the gang that rules it. There are no words to describe the atrocities of this [gang]. They are murderers who shed blood in [times of] war and [times of] peace, bloodsuckers, mutants who have turned into beasts of prey the likes of which nature has never seen. No curse in the book and no expression of evil or corruption is strong enough to describe them. The first thing they did [after the blast] is to contact [one another] to see if they were [all] ok. Some of them even visited one another, while people's body-parts and the contents of houses were still strewn in the streets. The Lebanese state announced a period of mourning for the victims it itself had killed. [Later] the officials will once again attend the funerals of people they murdered.
"The militias never perpetrated such a massacre in 15 years of war that moved from one place to another. The Zionist enemy did not perpetrate such a massacre in 45 years of war and hostility. The criminal Syrian regime did not carry out such a massacre in 30 years of patronage [over Lebanon]. But these militia leaders [of the Lebanese regime] banded together, organized themselves and together perpetrated a crime in the name of the Lebanese state, the greatest crime in the history of Lebanon. [The fact that this crime] was carried out by the Lebanese state… constitutes the final admission that the only recourse left to the Lebanese is to turn to the governments of foreign countries, which may accept them as refugees or immigrants and thereby rescue them. [The Lebanese] are surrounded by an enemy to the south [i.e., Israel] and an enemy to the east and north [i.e., Syria], and [now] their [own] state has detonated the [outlet to] the sea. So they will sit at home and wait for their imminent death.
"There was real hope that the scenario of the blast being caused by an Israeli attack on Beirut port would prove to be correct. The regime and its leaders led us to hope that this massacre had [indeed] been perpetrated by the Israeli enemy. We do not love death or murder, but if it has to happen, we prefer it to be at the hands of an enemy. A murder perpetrated by our own state means that we sit here exposed, easy prey in a field of ceaseless killing where everyone takes aim at our flesh. The Lebanese had already lost all hope in their political parties and authorities, but this last crime was the final proof.
"There was a sad final scene in which Prime Minister Hassan Diab appeared and told the Lebanese people that 'Beirut is bereft and all of Lebanon is a disaster zone.' Diab demanded that the Lebanese join forces and cope with the [horrific] sights as a united nation. Once again, the murderer sits with the victim to console [the victim's] family. Instead of resigning and stepping down, he wrote down a list of demands. The blood of the Beirut victims, whose number [already] exceeds 50, is on his hands and on the hands of the other state officials, as is the [blood of] hundreds of other victims who die every day from disease, hunger and oppression, as well as those who will fall [in the future]: in a few hours, in a week, or later. Responsibility for the August 4 disaster in Beirut lies with the officials, who are busy cutting the people's throats… They are murderers and have to leave now, today, not tomorrow, either the easy way or the hard way. They must pay the price for their crimes, within the law or outside it, in the courtroom or on the street. They are murderers and it is time to oust them, before another massacre or [event] we will mourn takes place."
[1] Almodon.com, August 5, 2020.
