Part of the silos damaged in 2020 collapses
A section of the massive grain silos at the port of Beirut, crushed by the 2020 explosion, collapsed in a huge cloud of dust on Sunday after a weeks-long fire, caused by grains that had fermented and they had ignited in the summer heat.
The northern block of silos collapsed after what appeared to be an explosion. It was unclear if anyone was injured.
The 50-year-old, 157-foot-tall silos had withstood the force of the blast two years ago, effectively shielding the western part of Beirut from the blast, which killed more than 200 people, injured more than 6,000 and severely damage entire neighborhoods. .
In July there was a fire in the north block of the silos due to the fermentation of the grains. Firefighters and soldiers were unable to put it out and it burned for weeks, releasing a foul smell that spread widely. The Environment and Health ministries last week instructed residents living near the port to stay indoors in well-ventilated spaces.
Sunday’s silo collapse comes just days before the second anniversary of the 2020 blast, one of the biggest explosions in Lebanon’s troubled history. It was less than a year after an uprising rocked the country, with hundreds of thousands of people protesting with entrenched sectarian political parties. The blast also precipitated Lebanon’s economic crisis, costing billions of dollars in damage and destroying thousands of tons of grain.
UN peacekeepers kill 2 and injure at least 15
UN peacekeepers returning from leave opened fire on a border post between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, killing at least two people and wounding at least 15, the UN mission and Congolese officials said on Sunday.
Tensions between the people of eastern Congo and the UN peacekeeping force have risen dramatically in the past week, with nearly 20 people killed in protests calling for the force to leave the region.
Bintou Keita, head of the UN mission in Congo and special representative of the UN secretary-general, said she was shocked by the shootings in Kasindi, a border town in Congo’s North Kivu province. He said it was unclear why the peacekeepers opened fire.
He said the soldiers’ country of origin has been contacted so that legal proceedings can begin. They were not given nationality.
The Congolese government condemned the shootings, confirming a provisional toll of two dead and 15 wounded.
Protesters accuse peacekeepers of failing to protect civilians amid increased violence. The mission has more than 16,000 uniformed personnel in Congo, according to the United Nations.
Sadr supporters camp in parliament for second day
Scattered mattresses, food trucks and protesters posing as lawmakers, hundreds of followers of an influential Shiite cleric camped inside Iraq’s parliament on Sunday after tearing down security walls around the building and storming the previous day.
The protesters, followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, vowed to hold an open meeting to derail the efforts of their rivals from Iran-backed political groups to form Iraq’s next government. Their demands are high: early elections, constitutional amendments and the removal of Sadr’s opponents.
The events have plunged Iraq deeper into political crisis as a power struggle unfolds between the country’s two main Shiite groups.
Sadr has not visited the scene but has encouraged his supporters, tweeting on Sunday that the meeting was “a great opportunity to radically challenge the political system, the constitution and the elections”. The Shiite cleric called on all Iraqis to join the “revolution”, an indication that the sit-in is likely to become a long event.
On Saturday, protesters used ropes and chains to tear down concrete walls around Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, then flooded the assembly building. It was the second such breach in the past week, but this time they did not disperse peacefully.
The parliamentary takeover showed Sadr using his many grassroots followers as a pressure tactic against his rivals in the Coordination Framework — an alliance of Shiite parties backed by Iran — after his party failed to to form a government despite having won the parliament. greater number of seats in the federal elections held in October.
Iranian border guards and Taliban forces clash: Iranian border guards clashed with the Afghan Taliban, Iranian media reported, the latest cross-border exchange since the Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan a year ago. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Iran’s deputy interior minister as saying that Taliban forces first opened fire on Iranian guards, forcing them to return fire until the exchange it calmed down about an hour and a half later. Clashes have erupted repeatedly between Iranian security forces and Afghan Taliban forces along the border since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021.