The exchange rate continues to collapse reaching close to 21,000 LBP and creeping slowly back to its all time low of 23,0000.

As it went down to 15,000 virtually, it's rising back to 23,000 virtually.

A Cessna 172 civil plane belonging to the Lebanese Aviation Club crashed into the sea, opposite the Sanita factory in Halat.

The army and civil defense teams began the rescue operation in search for two young men on board: Pascal Abdel Ahad and Ali Hajj Ahmed.

This is the second such incident this year.

This begs a question: Did the authorities open an investigation into the first crash and order maintenance checks to all Cessna 127 planes?

Demonstrators from the "civil society" organized a sit-in in support of Judge Al-Bitar while raising slogans against Hezbollah and Iran near the Palace of Justice.

🚨 Investigation on port blast:

Al-Jadeed, quoting sources, reports that Judge Tariq Al-Bitar is heading to accuse Hezbullah of the crime of the port explosion, and that Hezbullah will not bear the consequences of a crime it did not commit.

Hezbullah and Amal are demanding replacing Al-Bitar, otherwise they and Marada will suspend their participation in today's session, and eventually leave the government itself.

Are the reasons behind Hezbullah's and Amal's standpoint on Judge Al-Bitar known to all or should I do a thread to detail it?

LBCI: Today's Cabinet session is postponed until an agreement is reached on a legal formula to deal with the ongoing debate about the judicial investigator.

Information: Hezbullah to organize a small protest tomorrow near the Judicial palace against judge Tarek Al-Bitar and the mismanagement in the investigation file.

The General Secretariat of the House of Representatives: Any action by the judiciary against presidents, ministers, and representatives is considered an infringement of its authority, because this matter is not within its responsibilities.

Short thread:

Hezbullah's main concern about the ongoing investigation into the port explosion stems from the inconsistency in the process of information sharing and scope of interrogations. twitter.com/LebUpdate/sta…

⋯ Although no Hezbullah minister or representative was mentioned or will be mentioned in the investigation – as the party didn't have any governmental official who overviewed the port, trade, judiciary, or finance, – Hezbullah is afraid of the politicization of the investigation.

Delays and incomplete results will keep on feeding the narrative that it is responsible for the explosion either through:
• Israel destroyed the port because Hezbullah stored something there.
• The ammonium nitrate was for Hezbullah or Syria.

It was evident since day one when the media narrative shifted from accusing Hezbullah of storing weapons at the port, to accusing of knowing the ammonium was there, then accusing of buying the shipment for Syria. (2/6)

⋯ In this light, Hezbullah demanded to make public the French, FBI, Lebanese Army, and the ISF technical report to the public.

The report has information on who bought the ship, who took what's inside, why where they stored there, who bought some of the amount, and most importantly how it exploded.

All parties refused to go public, raising concerns in Hezbullah's leadership about the purpose of that. (3/6)

⋯ Aside from the lack of transparency, Hezbullah is unsatisfied by the limited scope of investigations. They want the judiciary to:

1- Investigate the judiciary

2- Investigate EVERY official since the ship arrived till August 2020

Hezbullah's demand to investigate the judiciary stems from Hezbullah's believe that the judges who allowed the ship to dock, then impounded, before banning it from leaving for 11 months before confiscating and storing at the port, a large portion of the blame.

But judge Bitar, similarly to his predecessor, refused to investigate the judiciary or listen to their statement on the matter, citing that judges are only investigated by the higher judiciary council.

So, Bitar won't he persecuting some of the responsibile for the explosion. (4/6)

⋯ Then comes the inconsistency with dealing with officials and who to interrogate.

Although it's illegal for the judge to persecute officials, as there is a specifical council, he did anyway.

Though this isn't Hezbullah's main concern. Hezbullah is concerned by the inconsistency.

Since 2013, we had 4 PM :Mikati, Tamam, Harriri, and Diab.

Bitar only requested after Diab, issuing an illegal arrest warrant, even though Diab's gov was few months old and he only knew about the substance weeks before the explosion. (5/6)

⋯ Tarek Al Bitar didn't bother taking the statement of Mikati neither Hariri.

The case of Hariri is even more important because Hariri visited the port post 2013. His visit was coordinated, officials had to have knew the risk... if there was any.

Tarek requested the statement of the Lebanese army commander Jean Kahwaji but not the current commander Joseph Aoun who visted the port with Hariri.

Tarek requested a statement from Ali Hasan Khalil, but not all finance Ministers since 2013. Same about the Works minister. Why choose one minister from each of the past 4 governments and not take the statement of all Finance, Works, and Interior, ministers since then. Etc.

Finally, Bitar ignored to investigate the USA embassy, who had a contractor at the port knowing about the ammonium nitrate. (6/6)

This sums the main motives of Hezbullah about refusing the actions and investigations of judge Bitar.

FPM party organized a motorcade in support of port explosion investigator judge Tarek Al-Bitar.

Minister of Education: Tomorrow is a normal school day in public schools around Lebanon. No need to drift behind any rumors.

Vice-President of the Lebanese Kataeb Party Salim Al-Sayegh: As soon as Wafiq Safa visited the judiciary, and Nasrallah's rapid movement, this indicated that Judge Al-Bitar may have reached a conclusion that will point towards Hezbullah in the port explosion case.

🚨 Zionist aggression ongoing on Homs, Syria.