Fire extinguished in a building designed by Zaha Hadid in downtown Beirut

BeirutThe Lebanese woke up on Tuesday to a fire that caught fire in a building designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid in downtown Beirut, after a week during which two fires broke out, one of them huge, in the capital’s port. destroyed by a terrible explosion more than a month ago.

Since the morning, the Lebanese have circulated on social media in a state of amazement, photos and videos of a fire that broke out inside the closed building in the central market of Beirut. They mocked bitterly at the repetition of the vision of blazing fires and columns of smoke.

Firefighting teams rushed to the scene and managed to extinguish the fire, which left its mark on the building under construction, which takes a circular shape, and one of its facades was charred.

A member of the Beirut Fire Brigade told reporters at the scene: “When we arrived, the fire was very strong,” noting that “the fire broke out in the insulation that separates the outside from the inside,” without being able to determine the cause of your outbreak.

A major fire broke out in the port of Beirut on Thursday, affecting humanitarian aid in a country still living under the impact of the explosion that occurred on August 4. After 20 hours of uninterrupted work, civil protection and fire fighting teams managed to extinguish it.

The Minister of Public Works and Transport of the interim government, Michel Najjar, spoke of “initial information” stating that “one of them was carrying out a repair workshop, using a (welding tool), which caused a spark and the fire”.

The outbreak of the fire on Thursday raised fears among politicians and human rights activists for what they described as a “crime scene”, especially since it followed a limited fire that broke out last Tuesday in the port.

On social media, the Lebanese mocked the outbreak of a third fire in their city in a few days, while they have yet to overcome the horror of the port explosion, which killed more than 190 people and injured more than 6,500. .

And security sources spoke after the explosion about welding work that could have caused the fire in it before hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate arrived and caused the disaster that displaced about 300 thousand from their homes.

Local media reported that the fire in the Zaha Hadid building may also have been caused by “welding work.”

“Scorched Earth Politics and After the Fires,” wrote theater director Yahya Jaber on Facebook.

Activist Imad Bazzi wrote on Twitter: “The Great Republic of Telhamia.”