Source: Kataeb.org
Wednesday 4 November 2026 22:16:08
Judge Tarek Bitar, the judicial investigator into the 2020 Beirut port explosion, is due to resume questioning defendants on Thursday, with former senior General Security officers among those summoned, according to local media reports.
Bitar will hold hearings at the Beirut Justice Palace and set dates for further questioning of several people charged in the case, MTV Lebanon reported. The outlet said the officials summoned for Thursday's hearings include former senior officers from Lebanon's General Security Directorate.
MTV Lebanon also reported that Bitar is expected to issue his indictment in the case before the end of 2026.
The latest developments follow Bitar's questioning of four former senior Lebanese army officers as defendants: former Army Chief of Staff Major General Walid Salman; Brigadier General Manuel Kirjian, former deputy chief of staff for materiel; George Moussa, former head of the ammunition department; and Brigadier General Munir Abou Zeid, former director of the Army's Armament Directorate, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The interrogations followed a substantive submission by State Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Judge Mohammad Saab, who brought charges against the officers and requested their questioning over suspicions that they had known about the presence of ammonium nitrate at Beirut port.
The hearing was attended by Saab, the officers' defense lawyers and the legal representatives of the civil plaintiffs.