A week later, the blast that left 6,000 people injured and made an estimated 300,000 people temporarily homeless looked like a potential watershed in Lebanon's troubled political history. On Tuesday, Ali Noureddin joined thousands of people to march solemnly by the wreckage of Beirut port, where his brother Ayman had been stationed as soldier when the blast went off. He warned that unless port operations resumed quickly, Lebanon would be without bread in two weeks. Health officials have warned that the chaos caused by the blast risked leading to a spike in infections. "The events of the previous week have, understandably, shifted attention away from the pandemic," Firass Abiad said on social media.

Source: Daily Nation August 11, 2020 20:15 UTC