Beirut witnessed a hot night, hours before the holding of the support conference for Lebanon organized by France, which President Trump will attend, in a remarkable step, coinciding with the discovery of more damages of the port explosion.
A French security source told AFP, citing French experts, that the violent Beirut explosion that destroyed the port and parts of the city on the fourth of this month, and killed at least 159 people, caused a hole 43 meters deep.
These estimates of the French experts came at a time when France is preparing, in partnership with the United Nations, to hold a special conference that is expected to provide Lebanon with assistance commensurate with the size of the losses and destruction.
According to the Elysee, the conference aims to provide the means to rebuild homes that were destroyed in the Lebanese capital, schools and hospitals, and to provide medical equipment and food aid.
The Lebanese Minister of Finance, Ghazi Wazni, had previously estimated Lebanon’s need, in addition to in-kind assistance of wheat, flour, milk, medicine, building materials, glass panels and aluminum, to amounts ranging between 5 and 7 billion dollars, while previous estimates indicated that the material damage exceeded 15 Billion dollar.
Violent confrontations broke out last night in the capital between security forces and demonstrators, after thousands of Lebanese gathered in central Beirut to express their anger following the explosion of the Beirut port.
The protesters stormed the Foreign Ministry before the army pulled them out of the cracked building in the blast. They also entered the Ministry of Energy, Environment and Economy.
Violent confrontations took place with the security forces and the army, as angry protesters threw stones and fireworks at the security forces, while the Internal Security Forces and the army responded by surrounding them with tear gas canisters and firing in the air to disperse them and prevent them from reaching the parliament building.
While the Internal Security Forces announced the death of one of its members during the confrontations, the Lebanese Red Cross said that it had transferred 63 wounded civilians to hospitals for treatment, while its teams had treated 175 wounded in the field.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Hassan Diab, announced that he would propose to his government Monday early parliamentary elections to get out of the political crisis afflicting Lebanon.
Source : Agencies
