Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab stated on Friday that experts had found “dangerous chemicals” at a warehouse at the Zahrani oil installations in the south.
Diab mentioned that the country’s atomic energy authority had identified the substances as “nuclear” according to a report by German company Combi Lift.
A Combi Lift spokesman indicated that they did not have any clue of the Zahrani issue.
Diab asserted that this needs to be discussed and dealt with promptly, according to a statement by Lebanon’s higher defense council.
The PM’s comments came nearly eight months after a stockpile of chemicals caused a massive explosion in Beirut, killing nearly 200 people.
Moreover, Diab’s cabinet has served in a caretaker capacity since resigning over the devastating explosion that hit much of Lebanon’s capital, leading to a financial crisis in the country.
After Lebanon hired Combi Lift last year in the wake of the blast, the German firm noted that it had found 58 containers at Beirut port that posed a threat to the city, indicating that some of it had been there for more than a decade.
On his part, the German ambassador to Beirut Andreas Kindl said this month the materials in the containers were packed well in order to be shipped out for disposal in Germany, as Lebanon had yet to make a $2 million payment stipulated in the contract.
Combi Lift spokesman Malte Steinhoff said on Friday the containers were still in Beirut amid talks with Lebanese authorities over financing.
“We...hope to find a solution this month,” Steinhoff said.
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