Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the resignation of the government. He announced this on Monday evening, August 10, in a televised address to the nation on the air of the LCB TV channel.
According to him, “the system of corruption was stronger than the Lebanese state.” As the minister added, the government sought to save the country, but the decades in power began to persecute the cabinet and turn the people against it.
Earlier on Monday, Health Minister Hamed Hassan announced that the government had resigned in full.
The technocrats’ cabinet was formed on January 21, and received a vote of confidence on February 11. Diab’s government relied on the support of a parliamentary majority led by the pro-presidential Free Patriotic Movement and the Shiite Amal-Hezbollah tandem.
On 9 August, protesters in Beirut broke into the building of the Lebanese Ministry of Labor and the building of the Lebanese Ministry of Displaced Persons. Clashes between protesters and security forces continued in the Lebanese capital. Earlier, the media reported about clashes near the building of the country’s parliament.
The political and social situation in Lebanon was worsened by an explosion in the port of Beirut on 4 August. As a result, more than 150 people died, and over 6 thousand were injured of varying severity. The explosion destroyed and damaged hundreds of buildings.
Fire of 2.7 tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate during welding operations was named as a preliminary cause of the incident.