Lebanon’s Cabinet has announced its resignation in the aftermath of the chemical explosions in Beirut on Aug. 4, said Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Monday.
“The whole government resigned,” and Prime Minister Hassan Diab will “hand over the resignation in the name of all the ministers,” according to AP. The prime minister spoke to the nation on Monday, explaining that the government would remain in place until a new one is formed.
Nearly 200 people have so far been reported killed as a result of the explosions, with thousands wounded and hundreds of thousands left homeless. The government has been accused of negligence for allowing what has been speculated to be 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that was supposedly stored at the port for years.
International organizations and world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have promised to donate $300 million in aid to Lebanon on Sunday on the condition of carrying out political and economic reforms, noted the report.
Hezbollah holds great power within the governing coalition and in parliament.
Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that while Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is Israel’s “biggest enemy from the north,” he is “Lebanon’s biggest problem.”
Gantz said that the event could have been even worse since Hezbollah stores explosives in the houses of civilians. “The fact that in Lebanon there are homes with a guest room and a missile room will make Lebanese society pay a heavy price,” he said.
