Hizbullah MP Says Senators Stance on Port Probe Confirms 'U.S. Meddling'

MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Sunday said that the latest stance by leading U.S. Congress members on the Beirut port blast investigation highlights the presence of “direct U.S. interference.”

Slamming what he called “a blatant attack on Lebanon’s sovereignty and flagrant interference in the investigations,” Fadlallah called for “a clear official stance defending Lebanon’s sovereignty,” and for “the rejection of these dictations.”

“The declared U.S. stance on the course of the investigations and the role and position of the investigative judge confirms the presence of direct U.S. meddling in this file with the aim of employing it to settle U.S. scores inside Lebanon, after the failure of wars and the siege in subjugating Lebanon,” Fadlallah said.

He added that all of this requires “returning the investigations into the port blast to their correct national course constitutionally and legally, away from any foreign dictations, domestic exploitation or politicization.”

“Let the sole objective be the unveiling of facts and the fulfillment of justice, in order to hold accountable the real culprits” in “a national case that concerns all Lebanese,” Fadlallah went on to say.

U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Bob Menendez, ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have released a statement saying they are “extremely concerned by the suspension of Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the devastating August 4, 2020, explosion at the Port of Beirut.”

“The Lebanese people, many of whom continue to suffer physical and economic impacts of the blast, deserve accountability for this tragedy,” they said in the statement.

Furthermore, Risch and Menendez said they are “alarmed by Hizbullah’s reported role in driving the decision to suspend this critical investigation.”

“Judge Bitar is a respected, and by all accounts impartial, jurist with over a decade of service to his country as a judge. It is incumbent upon the Lebanese government to ensure that judges and other investigators can safely carry out their duties and complete this investigation,” the senators added.