Timeline: Lebanon in dire straits since 2019
Lebanon, which is in a deep economic, social and political crisis, is also witnessing a major showdown between a judge investigating a devastating explosion and the country's top prosecutor.
Here is a recap of events since protests erupted in October 2019:
- Oct. 2019: protests begin -
Mass protests erupt following a government announcement on October 17, 2019 of a planned tax on voice calls made over messaging services such as WhatsApp.
The government scraps the tax on the same day.
But protests continue over the ensuing weeks, culminating in calls for the overhaul of a ruling class in place for decades and accused of systemic corruption.
Saad Hariri's government resigns in late October.
- Mar. 2020: first default -
Lebanon, with a $92 billion debt burden equivalent to nearly 170 percent of its gross domestic product, announces in March 2020 that it will default on a payment for the first time in its history.
In April, after three nights of violent anti-government protests, then-prime minister Hassan Diab says Lebanon will seek International Monetary Fund help.
But talks with the IMF quickly collapse.
- Aug. 2020: catastrophic blast -
A massive explosion on August 4, 2020 at Beirut port devastates entire neighborhoods of the capital, killing more than 215 people and injuring at least 6,500.
Revelations that the pile of volatile ammonium nitrate that caused one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded had been left unsecured in a warehouse for six years enrages the Lebanese public, who blame the political class.
Diab's government resigns in the wake of the blast.
Over the following months, attempts to form a new government fail due to horsetrading between rival sectarian factions.
The powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and its allies lose their majority in a May 15 parliamentary election.
- Oct. 2022: leaderless -
Political deadlock deepens on October 31 when President Michel Aoun's mandate expires without a successor in place. The divided parliament meets repeatedly in a bid to elect a new president but each attempt fails.
The country is run by the outgoing government in a caretaker capacity in the meantime but its powers are limited.
- Jan. 2023: battle over port probe -
On January 23, 2023, the judge investigating the deadly port blast resumes his work, after a 13-month halt caused by political pressure.
The next day the judge, Tarek Bitar, charges the prosecutor general and seven others with probable intent to murder and other crimes.
The legal battle deepens when the prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, charges the judge with insubordination and "usurping power" and slaps him with a travel ban.
Bitar stands his ground, saying he will not quit the case.