Billionaire Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s richest man - already twice premier - manages to form a new government on September 10 after a 13-month vacuum. On July 15, Hariri steps down, unable to form a government. Parliament says it needs more evidence before it waives immunity for three former ministers who are also lawmakers, a position that the lead investigator rejects. ‘Immunity’: In early July, the new judge investigating the blast says he has summoned Diab and taken steps towards indicting former ministers and security officials. In June, rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch call for a UN investigation into the blast. But the probe is soon suspended, and a court removes the investigator in February. Diab charged: Just over a week later the lead investigator into the explosion charges Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence. On December 2, at a second aid conference, Macron urges Lebanese politicians to form a government. Hariri back: On October 22, three-time prime minister Saad Hariri is nominated again, promising a government of experts to stop the economic collapse.
Macron says he is “ashamed” of Lebanese leaders who he claims have “betrayed” their people. But on September 26, after weeks of political deadlock, Adib bows out. At the end of the month, diplomat Mustapha Adib is named as Lebanon’s new premier. People ‘betrayed’: On August 10, prime minister Hassan Diab resigns amid further demonstrators. The next day, the international community pledges around $300 million in aid but demands it be directly distributed to the population and that a transparent probe into the blast is carried out. Public anger: On August 8, thousands demonstrate, angry at their leaders over the explosion. Macron calls for “deep changes” but the next day President Michel Aoun rejects any international probe into the disaster. His visit is praised by many Lebanese angry at their own leaders, whom they accuse of corruption and incompetence. ‘Deep changes’ needed: International aid begins to arrive and on August 6 French President Emmanuel Macron walks through the devastated Gemmayzeh neighbourhood. A plummeting currency, massive layoffs and drastic banking restrictions impoverish large parts of the population. The tragedy strikes as Lebanon is mired in what the IMF later calls one of the world’s worst economic crisis in 150 years.
The huge explosion leaves more than 200 people dead and 6,500 injured and the city in a state of shock. The blast was caused by a fire in a warehouse which had held a vast stockpile of the industrial chemical ammonium nitrate for six years. Devastation: On August 4, 2020, one of the world’s biggest ever non-nuclear explosions destroys much of Beirut’s port and wrecks swathes of the capital. Beirut: With gun battles breaking out in the Lebanese capital on Thursday after shots were fired at protesters, we look at how the apocalyptic blast that devastated the port of Beirut last year has rocked the country.