The former Lebanese Minister of the Interior, Nihad Al-Machnouk, accused Israel of being responsible for the Beirut port bombing, which left dozens dead and thousands wounded.
In a press conference held yesterday, Al-Machnouk said, "This operation in Beirut was carried out by Israel in a clear and explicit manner, and this is the result of conclusions, readings and communications, and it is clear that we are facing a crime against humanity, and therefore no one dares to adopt it."
Al-Machnouk asked, "Who is the Lebanese judge who would dare to announce the discovery of missile remnants among the body parts and destruction? And which judge would dare to announce that the size of the explosion was 1,350 tons of ammonium nitrate and not 2750, and where did the 1400 tons disappear?"
We are a "politically occupied" state, Al-Machnouk said, referring to demands for an international investigation, saying, "If the international investigation is not decided, we must all resign. If it is decided, we will have reached a small part of the rights of the martyrs' families."
He believed that "the government that was present is trivial and the most trivial in it is that the last decision that was issued by it was to assign the Judicial Council as a compromise between the military investigation and the international investigation, but in fact this is a zero solution because all the cases referred to this council did not reach any decision."
Al-Mashtouq considered that "the first appointment of a justice judge was for a party judge, and the resigned Minister of Justice insisted on him after the Supreme Judicial Council refused, so how will we wait for a result?"
Al-Machnouk pointed out that “political circumstances prompted the sovereign MPs to be slow to resign,” and pointed out that parliamentary blocs, namely “Al-Mustaqbal”, “Socialist” and “Forces”, wanted to resign from the House of Representatives, but they received a call on the night of consultations from the French President in person and asked them. Slow down until his return to Lebanon.
Regarding the government to be formed, Al-Machnouk said, "Last time, Nawaf Salam was nominated to form the government, and I am still on my nomination. He is a true neutral, sober and courageous person, and I do not think that Prime Minister Hariri will be allowed to form a neutral government."