French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Lebanon again on the first of next September, while the Lebanese judiciary continues to question and issue arrest warrants against the backdrop of the huge explosion that shook the capital on August 4.
Macron will arrive on Monday evening, on the eve of a busy day that will be devoted to "continuing assistance for reconstruction" and to discuss political issues at a time when a new government must be formed in Lebanon, according to what the French presidency explained.
Macron was the first foreign official to visit Beirut on August 6, days after the massive explosion in the port of the Lebanese capital, which caused about 180 deaths and thousands of injuries and destroyed entire neighborhoods.
Macron urged the Lebanese authorities to carry out structural reforms as a condition for obtaining essential international funding to revive the economy that collapsed a few months ago.
Hassan Diab's government resigned on August 10, under pressure from the street, angry at the political class, which he accused of corruption and neglect, and held it responsible for the explosion.
Interrogations and arrest warrants
In another development, the Lebanese official agency stated that the judicial investigator in the file of the Beirut Port bombing, Judge Fadi Sawan, interrogated 4 defendants.
She explained that the interrogators were the director of operations at the port, Samer Raad, the head of the Security and Safety Authority, Muhammad Ziyad al-Auf, the first sergeant in the customs, Elias Shaheen, and the first sergeant in the customs Khaled al-Khatib.
The judicial investigator issued arrest warrants against them, bringing the number of those arrested with judicial warrants to 16, and leaving 3 detainees pending investigation. They are expected to be questioned next Friday.
Arrest of an ISIS operative
On the other hand, the security forces in Lebanon announced the arrest of an ISIS member, who planned to carry out terrorist operations in the Gemmayzeh area of the capital, Beirut.
The General Directorate of Internal Security Forces said, in a press release reported by the National Information Agency today, that this comes within the framework of the preventive security action plan adopted by the Information Division of the Internal Security Forces, especially in terms of following up and prosecuting persons suspected of belonging to terrorist organizations.
She added that, as a result of careful monitoring, the Division was able to identify a Syrian national belonging to the terrorist organization and arrest him on August 18.