A father's grief and a nation's hope: Lebanon awaits justice 5 years after Beirut blast

BSALIM, Lebanon (AP) — George Bezdjian remembers searching for his daughter, Jessica, after a massive explosion at Beirut's port five years ago. He found her at the St. Georges Hospital where she worked as a nurse.

The hospital was in the path of the blast and was heavily damaged. He found his daughter lying on the floor as her colleagues tried to revive her. They weren't able to save her. She was one of four medical staff killed there.

“I started telling God that living for 60 years is more than enough. If you're going to take someone from the family, take me and leave her alive,” he told The Associated Press from his home in Bsalim, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) away from the port. He sat in a corner where he put up portraits of Jessica next to burning incense to honor her.

“I begged him, but he didn’t reply to me.”

The Aug. 4, 2020 blast in Beirut’s port tore through the Lebanese capital after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse. The gigantic explosion killed at least 218 people, according to an AP count, wounded more than 6,000 others and devastated large swathes of Beirut, causing billions of dollars in damages.

It further angered the nation, already in economic free-fall after decades of corruption and financial crimes. Many family members of the victims pinned their hopes on Judge Tarek Bitar, who was tasked with investigating the explosion. The maverick judge shook the country’s ruling elite, pursuing top officials, who for years obstructed his investigation.

Hundreds gathered near the port on Monday to commemorate the blast, as they have every year since the explosion, carrying placards of lost loved ones and demanding justice. The protests have become smaller and more subdued over the years, compared to mass demonstrations that spiraled into clashes with security forces in the immediate aftermath.

Still, the gatherings stand as a testament that the people of Beirut have not forgotten.

But five years on, no official has been convicted. And the widespread rage over the explosion and years of apparent negligence from a web of political, security and judicial officials has faded as Lebanon's economy further crumbled and conflict rocked the country.

Judge Bitar had aimed to release the indictment last year but it was stalled by months of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group that decimated large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, killing some 4,000 people.

In early 2025, Lebanon elected President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and a Cabinet that came to power on reformist platforms. They vowed to complete the port probe and hold the perpetrators to account.

“There will be no settlement in the port case before there is accountability,” Salam said Sunday.

Bitar, apparently galvanized by these developments, summoned a handful of senior political and security officials in July, as well as three judges in a new push for the case, but was unable to release an indictment over the summer.

However, the judge has been working on an additional phase of his investigation — now some 1,200 pages in length — aiming for the indictment to be out by the end of the year, according to four judicial officials and two security officials. They all spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Before completing his own report, Bitar is waiting to receive a fourth and final report from France, which has conducted its own investigation, as several of those killed were French citizens.

Bitar is also looking to hear the testimonies of some 15 witnesses, and is reaching out to European and Arab countries for legal cooperation, the officials said. He hopes that some European suspects can be questioned about the shipment of ammonium nitrate and the vessel carrying it that ended up in the Beirut Port.

Despite the malaise across much of Lebanon, Kayan Tlais, brother of port supervisor Mohammad Tlais who was killed in the blast, is hopeful that the indictment will see the light of day.

“We do have judges with integrity,” he said. “The president, prime minister, and all those who came and were voted in do give us hope … they are all the right people in the right place.”

The port and the surrounding Beirut neighborhoods appear functional again, but there are still scars. The mammoth grain silos withstood the force of the blast but later partly collapsed in 2022 after a series of fires. Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh Sunday classified them as historical monuments.

There was no centralized effort by the cash-strapped Lebanese government to rebuild the surrounding neighborhoods. An initiative by the World Bank, Europe and the United Nations to fund recovery projects was slow to kick off, while larger projects were contingent on reforms that never came.

Many family and business owners fixed their damaged property out of pocket or reached out to charities and grassroots initiatives.

A 2022 survey by the Beirut Urban Lab, a research center at the American University of Beirut, found that 60% to 80% of apartments and businesses damaged in the blast had been repaired.

“This was a reconstruction primarily driven by nonprofits and funded by diaspora streams,” said Mona Harb, a professor of urban studies and politics at AUB and co-founder of the research center.

But regardless of how much of the city is rebuilt and through what means, Aug. 4 will always be a “dark day of sadness,” says Bezdjian. All that matters to him is the indictment and to find who the perpetrators are. He tries to stay calm, but struggles to control how he feels.

“We will do to them what every mother and father would do if someone killed their child, and if they knew who killed their son or daughter,” he said. "What do you think they would do?”

—

Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

FILE - This photo shows a general view of the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

George Bezdjian, father of Jessica Bezdjian who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, wears a pin bearing her photo as he speaks during an interview at his home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A display honoring Jessica Bezdjian, a nursing student who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, shows her nursing uniform and personal items at her family's home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Chouchan Yeghiyan, mother of Jessica Bezdjian who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, weeps during an interview with The Associated Press at her home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Relatives of victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion stand on the ladder of a firetruck, holding portraits of their loved ones and a giant Lebanese flag, during a gathering marking the fifth anniversary of the massive blast, outside the port of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Relatives of victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion hold portraits of their loved ones during a gathering marking the fifth anniversary of the massive blast, outside the port of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

FILE - This photo shows a general view of the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

George Bezdjian, father of Jessica Bezdjian who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, wears a pin bearing her photo as he speaks during an interview at his home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A display honoring Jessica Bezdjian, a nursing student who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, shows her nursing uniform and personal items at her family's home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Chouchan Yeghiyan, mother of Jessica Bezdjian who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, weeps during an interview with The Associated Press at her home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Relatives of victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion stand on the ladder of a firetruck, holding portraits of their loved ones and a giant Lebanese flag, during a gathering marking the fifth anniversary of the massive blast, outside the port of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Relatives of victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion stand on the ladder of a firetruck, holding portraits of their loved ones and a giant Lebanese flag, during a gathering marking the fifth anniversary of the massive blast, outside the port of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Relatives of victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion hold portraits of their loved ones during a gathering marking the fifth anniversary of the massive blast, outside the port of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

FILE - This photo shows a general view of the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

George Bezdjian, father of Jessica Bezdjian who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, wears a pin bearing her photo as he speaks during an interview at his home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A display honoring Jessica Bezdjian, a nursing student who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, shows her nursing uniform and personal items at her family's home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Chouchan Yeghiyan, mother of Jessica Bezdjian who was killed in the massive 2020 blast at Beirut's seaport, weeps during an interview with The Associated Press at her home in Bsalim, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Thursday was the final day to select an Affordable Care Act health insurance plan across much of the country, as the expiration of federal subsidies drives up health costs and lawmakers remain locked in a debate over how to address the issue.

That's when the open enrollment window ends in most states for plans that start in February. About 10 states that run their own marketplaces have later deadlines, or have extended them to the end of the month to give their residents more time.

The date is a crucial one for millions of small business owners, gig workers, farmers, ranchers and others who don't get their health insurance from a job and therefore rely on marketplace plans. A record 24 million Americans purchased Affordable Care Act health plans last year.

But this year, their decisions over health coverage have been more difficult than usual as clarity over how much it will cost is hard to come by. And so far, enrollment is lagging behind last year's numbers — with about 22.8 million Americans having signed up so far, according to federal data.

Last year, for months, it was unclear whether Congress would allow for the end-of-year expiration of COVID-era expanded subsidies that had offset costs for more than 90% of enrollees. Democrats forced a record-long government shutdown over the issue, but still couldn't get a deal done. So the subsidies expired Jan. 1, leaving the average subsidized enrollee with more than double the monthly premium costs for 2026, according to an analysis from the health care nonprofit KFF.

Still, the question of whether Congress would resurrect the tax credits loomed over Washington. Several enrollees told The Associated Press they have either delayed signing up for coverage or signed up with a plan to cancel as they anxiously watch what's happening on Capitol Hill.

Last week, the House passed a three-year extension of the subsidies after 17 Republicans joined with Democrats against the wishes of Republican leaders. But the Senate rejected a similar bill last year.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has been leading a bipartisan group of 12 senators trying to devise a compromise and said this week that he expects to have a proposal by the end of the month. The contours of the senators’ bipartisan plan involves a two-year deal that would extend the enhanced subsidies while adding new limits on who can receive them. The proposal would also create the option, in the second year, of a new health savings account that President Donald Trump and Republicans prefer.

Under the deal being discussed, the ACA open enrollment period would be extended to March 1 of this year to allow people more time to figure out their coverage plans after the disruption.

Still, Republicans and Democrats say they have not completed the plan, and the two sides have yet to agree if there should be new limits on whether states can use separate funds for abortion coverage.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced outlines of a plan he wants Congress to consider that would. It would, among other things, redirect ACA subsidies into health savings accounts that go directly to consumers. Democrats have largely rebuffed this idea as inadequate for offsetting health costs for most people.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro contributed from Washington.

FILE - Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)