The Supreme Defense Council in Lebanon assigned the military and security forces to impose control over energy sources and organize their distribution, after at least 28 people were killed and about eighty others were injured when a fuel tank exploded in the Akkar region in the north of the country.

Following the incident, Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for an extraordinary meeting of the Higher Defense Council, on Sunday afternoon, to discuss the repercussions, while the Lebanese army announced, in a statement, the arrest of the son of the owner of the plot in which the tank exploded.

Aoun warned against "politicizing and exploiting the blood of the martyrs" in the Akkar explosion incident.

A statement by the Lebanese presidency after the meeting of the Higher Defense Council said, "We warn against politicizing the tragedy that took place in the night and exploiting the blood of the martyrs, to raise slogans and launch calls that reveal the intentions of those who launched it and their involvement in schemes to harm the regime and its institutions."

The statement added, "The crises we are going through and their consequences urge us all not to evade the moral, humanitarian and constitutional responsibilities that necessitate taking the necessary measures to confront them."

Aoun called for "accelerating investigations to uncover the circumstances and reasons that led to the disaster in Telil, and to prosecute its perpetrators and those behind them."


calls for help

Earlier, the Lebanese army announced in a statement that "at around 2 am, a fuel tank exploded inside a plot of land used to store pebbles in the town of Al-Talil in the Akkar region, which the army had confiscated to distribute what was inside it to the citizens."

The National News Agency reported that the majority of the victims were those who gathered around the tank to fill gasoline in the town of Al-Tilil in the Akkar region, while Reuters quoted eyewitnesses as saying that about 200 people were at the site at the time of the explosion.

Videos spread on social media showed a large fire at the site of the explosion.

The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Red Cross, George Kettaneh, warned that the disaster would increase pressure on the only two centers for treating burns in Lebanon, located in the city of Tripoli in the north and in the capital, Beirut.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan said severe burns may require rapid treatment abroad to save lives.

He added in a statement to Reuters, "We urgently need help evacuating some of the injured abroad, because we have cases that require special care departments


specialized in burns more than the ability of Lebanese hospitals to treat them."


Anarchy and monopoly

The gasoline crisis worsened a few days ago, with the Lebanese Central Bank announcing the lifting of fuel subsidies, and the start of opening credits for its purchase according to the black market exchange rate.

The announcement caused panic among people, as well as fuel suppliers, prompting some to stockpile gasoline, or buy it from black market dealers who sell it at exorbitant prices, and some gas stations were closed.

In the face of the chaos over the past two days, the Lebanese army intervened to open closed fuel stations and confiscate stored fuel, including the tanker that exploded on Sunday.

The Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, confirmed on Saturday that he will not reverse the decision to lift subsidies on fuel unless in the case of “legislation to use the mandatory reserve,” which plunged to 14 billion dollars, compared to more than 30 billion before the crisis.

Akkar massacre

In other reactions to the explosion, the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, described it as a "massacre" and held the "incapable ruling authority" responsible for running the country.

Derian called for "the formation of the government immediately within a few days, because the matter can no longer tolerate more collapse, chaos, killing and destruction."

He added that "the victims of the Akkar massacre joined the convoy of victims of the Beirut port explosion (August 4, 2020)."

In turn, the head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri, demanded, on Sunday, the country's President, Michel Aoun, to leave power.

And he said in a statement, "Akkar stirred the pain of all the Lebanese, and the tools of sedition did not move in it. You (in reference to Aoun) see people's pain as sedition, and we see it as a cry rising in your face, leave, Your Excellency, leave."

Hariri asked, "How does the President of the Republic allow himself to jump over the people's pain in Akkar to speak at the Defense Council meeting in defense of the activities of extremist groups to create a kind of chaos and security chaos."

He added, "Akkar is not Kandahar, and it is not outside the state. Your Excellency has become outside the state and president of the republic of the Aounist movement, and Akkar has been oppressed by you and your era, and the fire ignited in her heart before it ignited in the smuggling tanks."

One of the victims of the petrol tanker explosion in Akkar (French)

Military zone

In turn, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, called on Sunday to declare Akkar a military zone to secure and protect its residents.

"Akkar must be declared a military zone to protect its security and all its people, and the government must meet to take a decision," he said in a tweet via his Twitter account.

"We were alerted two weeks ago that Akkar has become as if it is outside the country, because of the fuel gangs that block roads and stations, and that hijack tankers," he added.

Bassil called for a reversal of the decision of the Governor of the Banque du Liban, which he said "causes chaos and generates strife."

As for the Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, he considered that "what happened in Akkar calls out everyone's conscience to cooperate to save the Lebanese from calamities and neglect."

He added that "innocents have fallen victim to the greed of those who took advantage of the fuel crisis to make illegal profits."