BEIRUT: Lebanon will only receive financial support when its leaders enact reforms, a US official said on Saturday, urging them to finally respond to their people’s demands for good governance and to end corruption.

“When we see Lebanese leaders committed to real change, change in word and deed, America and its international partners will respond to systemic reforms with sustained financial support,” David Hale said at the end of a three-day visit to Beirut following the catastrophic chemicals explosion last week.

Hale, Undersecretary of State for political affairs, also said the United States was ready to work with Congress to pledge up to $30 million in additional funds to enable the flow of grain through the port of Beirut on an urgent, interim basis.

“We can never go back to an era in which anything goes at the port or the borders of Lebanon that had to contribute to this situation,” said David Hale after visiting the port.

He added that FBI agents would be arriving on Sunday at the invitation of Lebanon to help investigate what led to the explosion.

The blast has fuelled anger at Lebanon’s ruling politicians who were already facing criticism over a financial meltdown that has sunk the currency, demolished the value of savings and left depositors unable to withdraw their money.

Some Lebanese people doubt the authorities can carry out a proper investigation and say foreign countries should intervene.

“We can’t trust this government. They will lie to us. They should form an international committee to investigate this,” said businessman Jimmy Iskandar.

President Michel Aoun has said a probe will look into whether the cause of the blast was negligence, an accident or “external interference”.

“They won’t do a thing in an investigation and the whole world knows that,” said painter Mohammed Khodr, as he helped repair a restaurant damaged in the blast.

The heavily armed, Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States, said on Friday it would wait for results of the official Lebanese investigation into the blast.

But if it turns out to be an act of sabotage by neighbouring Israel then it would “pay an equal price”, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2020