A large fire broke out on Thursday at the port of Beirut, one month after a massive explosion killed nearly 200 people, injured as many as 6,500 and left hundreds of thousands in the city homeless.
The Lebanese army said the fire is at a warehouse holding oil and tires, and that army helicopters are taking part in fighting the flames, reported the AP. Residents in the area panicked—reminded of the incident last month—and soldiers closed off a major road that goes near the port.
Beirut Gov. Marwan Abboud and authorities ordered people to stay away from roads leading to the port to help firefighters’ efforts to put out the fire, according to the report.
This comes after another fire broke out on Tuesday, which was put out quickly.
It remains unclear who or what parties are guilty for the massive explosion on Aug. 4, despite reports indirectly tying Iranian-backed Hezbollah to the catastrophe.
Tony Badran, an expert on the country and research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, had told JNS that “no direct link has been established so far between Hezbollah and this shipment of ammonium nitrate.”
