Senior Amal lawmaker and former minister Ali Hasan Khalil threatened a "political escalation" if the course of the investigation "was not rectified", after Bitar on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant against him for failing to show up for questioning.Ī cabinet session Tuesday ended with a row as ministers affiliated with Hezbollah and Amal pressed the government to support their demand to replace Bitar, according to a senior official who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorised to speak to the media.Ī follow-up session scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, signalling no agreement has been reached between factions in the cabinet, with some ministers arguing the government should not intervene in judicial matters. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah accused him this week of political bias. He is now emerging as the target of a political campaign led by the Shiite movements Hezbollah and Amal.
Judge Tarek Bitar was forced to suspend his probe on Tuesday after former ministers he had summoned on suspicion of negligence filed lawsuits against him. The debate comes at a time when Lebanese are desperately waiting for the government, formed in September after protracted horse-trading, to tackle Lebanon's dire economic crisis. Lebanon's month-old government called off a cabinet session Wednesday as a political crisis brewed within its ranks over whether to remove a judge investigating the massive August 2020 Beirut port blast. A protester holds a sign showing faces of the August 2020 Beirut port blast victims
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