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On Aug. 4, Lebanon observed a somber one-year anniversary of the massive explosion at the Beirut Port that according to Human Rights Watch killed 218 and wounded 7,000. To mark the occasion, people bravely shared moving stories on social media about the toll the event took on their mental health, their families and their ability to survive in a country already beset by many economic woes.
Tragically, what they could not do is point to any meaningful consequences for the politicians and bureaucrats criminally responsible for the entirely avoidable disaster at the port, which was caused by years of corruption, negligence, greed and, most of all, the impunity enjoyed by Lebanon’s ruling elites.