Lebanon's judiciary wants to appoint a second judge to a stalled investigation into the Beirut port blast, according to a letter seen by Reuters, further complicating efforts to hold officials to account over a tragedy that killed more than 220 people.
Judge Tarek Bitar's investigation into the 2020 explosion, which flattened swathes of the city when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port detonated, has been suspended since late 2021 by lawsuits brought by senior politicians whom he has sought to question.
