Former public works minister Youssef Fenianos has filed a “falsification” complaint against the lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast Tarek Bitar, TV networks said on Monday.

Al-Jadeed TV said Fenianos filed the complaint with the Court of Cassation, accusing Bitar of “falsifying the date of his lawsuit against Judge Ghassan Khoury.”

The Court of Appeals, headed by Judge Nassib Elia, dismissed Monday the requests submitted by MPs Nohad al-Mashnouq, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter for the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar from the port case.

The Court issued a ruling saying that it has decided to dismiss the removal request for the lack of competence and that the three MPs will be fined LBP 800,000.

French presidential envoy Ambassador Pierre Duquesne has arrived to Beirut to follow up on the international aid to Lebanon, a mission that had been assigned to him.

Duquesne will meet today with Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyeh, one of the two ministers assigned by Hizbullah – “which reflects the French interest in the port blast case,” al-Joumhouria newspaper said on Monday.

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.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday lashed out at Hizbullah without naming it.

U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Bob Menendez, ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have released a statement in reaction to the suspension of Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the 2020 Beirut port blast in the wake of legal motions calling for his dismissal.

“We are extremely concerned by the suspension of Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the devastating August 4, 2020, explosion at the Port of Beirut which killed more than 200 people and injured thousands more. 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.

Najat Rochdi, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, on Friday held a press conference about the Emergency Response Plan in Lebanon. 

In the press conference, Rochdi informed the media how the humanitarian community working under her leadership, is collectively responding to the most pressing humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable populations affected by the multi-dimensional crisis in Lebanon.

A number of young men blocked the international road at Falougha junction Friday in protest against the arrest of Sheikh Ayman Hani of the Druze sect at the Masnaa border crossing.

Hani had been arrested on his way to Syria for firearms use charges and was handed over to the Military Police in the Lebanese Army in Ablah.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Friday that “we have started doing what needs to be done to resolve things,” and called for full cooperation in Cabinet and with parliament.

Miqati said in a statement, after meeting with key figures in Tripoli, that “people are expecting from the government to save them from their suffering.”

Member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, MP Hassan Fadlallah, filed Friday a complaint to the judiciary asking it to hold accountable those involved in monopolization, price manipulation and smuggling.

Fadlallah had given a speech in Parliament in which he demanded a financial audit of the accounts of companies importing fuel, medicines, and vital goods. He also demanded an audit of the accounts of distribution companies and big traders.