Beirut: Shots, explosions, deaths – tensions escalate in Lebanon (video)

Dramatic scenes in the Lebanese capital Beirut. In Lebanon, the conflict over the legal processing of the devastating port explosion in Beirut turned into deadly street violence on Thursday. Several people were killed, according to the Interior Ministry. According to military sources, an open firefight broke out when supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah militia arrived at a roundabout on their way to a protest rally and were shelled in a district that is mostly inhabited by Christians. Gunshots and explosions could be heard for hours. The army finally moved in with a large contingent and threatened to shoot at every armed man on the street. Hezbollah supporters were on their way to the Palace of Justice when the violence broke out. They wanted to demand the removal of the judge who is entrusted with the case of the port explosion in August 2020. The political tensions in connection with the investigations into the harbor explosion, in which 200 people were killed last year and countless harbor and residential buildings were destroyed, had recently increased more and more. Iranian Hezbollah, of which no members are the target of the investigation, accuses Judge Tarek Bitar of being biased.