Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab handed over his resignation on Monday evening to President Michel Aoun, who accepted it and assigned him to conduct business, in light of the continuing boil on the Lebanese street following the disaster of the Beirut port explosion.

Before submitting his resignation at Baabda Palace, Diab said in a televised speech, "Today we arrived here, to this earthquake that struck the country. Today we are appealing to people and their demands to hold accountable those responsible for the disaster that has been hiding for 7 years, to their desire for real change."

He added, "Faced with this reality, we take a step backward by standing with the people. Therefore, today I announce the resignation of this government."

Diab emphasized that "the system of corruption is greater than the state, and the state is shackled to the system and cannot confront it or get rid of it. One of the examples of corruption exploded in the port of Beirut."

But the resignation did not satisfy the demonstrators, who are demanding the fall of the entire political class that they have come to accuse - along with corruption and inability to solve their chronic problems - of disregarding people's lives after the terrible explosion.

A number of demonstrators returned to the street on Monday evening in the center of the capital, chanting, "Everyone means all of them."

France on the line

On the other hand, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called on Lebanon to "accelerate the formation of a government that proves its effectiveness before the people," following the resignation of Diab's government.

Le Drian said in a statement that the next government "requires its mission to respond to the main challenges of the country, especially the reconstruction of Beirut and reforms, without which the country will proceed towards an economic, social and political collapse."

He added, "We must listen to the aspirations expressed by the Lebanese regarding reforms and how to exercise governance."

Before Diab announced his resignation, Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni submitted his resignation, becoming the fourth minister to resign after the huge Beirut port explosion, which left more than 160 people dead and 6,000 wounded and caused massive destruction in the Lebanese capital.

And my weight was preceded by Minister of Justice Marie Claude Najm, Minister of Environment Damianus Kattar, and Minister of Information Manal Abdel Samad, against the backdrop of massive public anger calling for the drop of all political structure in the country.

Victims and the course of investigations

On the other hand, the Lebanese Army announced during the past hours that its rescue teams managed to retrieve 5 bodies of the victims of the explosion, which raises the total to 163 dead, with 16 people still missing.

In terms of investigations, the Diab government referred, hours before its resignation, the file of the Beirut port explosion to the Judicial Council, which is the highest judicial authority in Lebanon, and its rulings are considered final and not subject to statute of limitations.

The Judicial Council - according to what is mentioned on the Lebanese Army website - is generally competent to deal with crimes against the security of the state, including crimes that undermine national unity or disturb the serenity between the elements of the nation or undermine the state’s financial standing, and crimes of weapons and ammunition and encroachment on the state. Civil rights and duties.

The judicial and security services continued their investigations into the port explosion, as the discriminatory public attorney, Judge Ghassan El-Khoury, heard the statement of the Director-General of the State Security Service, Major General Tony Saliba, on the circumstances of the explosion, on Monday, to listen to other security leaders, respectively.

Lebanese newspapers said that Major General Saliba was placed under investigation at the signal of the Public Defender.

Street fury

Prior to announcing the government's resignation, Al-Jazeera correspondent Johnny Tanios - from the vicinity of the Beirut Parliament - said that a new round of demonstrations continued for the third day in a row near Parliament.

The reporter added that the security forces are adopting the same tactic, which is to let the demonstrators express their anger and throw stones at the police and burn rubber tires, in order to absorb their anger.

Hassan Diab had held successive and marathon meetings with ministers that lasted for long hours to discourage them from resigning, and he asked them to slow down in making decisions. Industry Minister Imad Hoballah (affiliated with Hezbollah) went out to announce that "there is no resignation, and the government is steadfast, and they are continuing to work."