Despite the fact that the Beirut Port explosion took place over 2 months ago, the investigation into it, carried out by the local authorities, has not yet delivered an outcome. Apparently, it is also still awaiting external data.
On Tuesday, now-former Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that Lebanon was still waiting to receive satellite images of the deadly August 4th blast from each of France and Italy.
Speaking to journalists, the official said that he had requested from French President Emmanuel Macron satellite images that showed Beirut Port “before, during, and after” the explosion.
He added that a similar request has been delivered to the Italian authorities. “They should have given them to us, but this hasn’t happened and I don’t know why,” he said.
During French President Macron’s first visit to Lebanon after the blast, his Lebanese counterpart, President Michel Aoun, asked him to provide aerial photos that can help “determine if there were aircraft or missiles in the air [at the time of the explosion],” the latter announced on August 7th.
Despite these requests, neither France nor Italy has publicly confirmed that it would provide such images to Lebanon. However, the possibility is there that they would be included with their investigation reports.
Meanwhile, the local investigation is ongoing with no results announced to the public yet.
Last week, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which had joined the investigation in August, announced that it had reached no conclusion regarding the cause of the explosion.
Following the announcement, it was reported that the Lebanese authorities were expecting another report, more detailed than the FBI’s, from the French investigative team that also worked on the blast site.