Lebanon’s prosecutor defies judge investigating Beirut blast

By BASSEM MROUE and KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s chief prosecutor is defying the judge leading the investigation into Beirut’s massive 2020 port blast, claiming he can’t proceed with the probe until the country’s judicial authorities rule on the matter. Tuesday’s statement by the prosecutor, Ghassan Oweidat, came a day after Judge Tarek Bitar resumed the investigation, following a 13-month halt over legal challenges raised by politicians accused in the probe. Hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a material used in fertilizers, detonated on Aug. 4, 2020, in Beirut’s Port, killing more than 200 people, injuring over 6,000 and damaging large parts of Beirut.