Lebanon’s ministries: "Agencies without gatekeepers!"

Given the scale of the fire and suspicions that it may have been deliberately set, the blaze at the Ministry of Telecommunications' warehouses in Dekwaneh prompted many to recall the 2020 Beirut Port explosion. Another, more recent event also warrants attention:  the theft of the Ministry of Information's archives in 2023. To this day, that investigation has no results. Against this backdrop, the Dekwaneh warehouse fire appears to be part of a broader pattern of explosions, fires, and thefts repeatedly affecting state facilities that house public assets, official records, and hazardous materials, suggesting that Lebanon's ministries and public administrations are, indeed, being run as though they were "an agency without a gatekeeper".

So, how are the state's warehouses, housing sensitive equipment, hazardous materials, official documents, and assets worth millions of dollars, actually managed? And to what extent do ministries and public administrations comply with  public safety standards?

The suspicious timing of the fire

The massive fire, which took a long time to bring under cont broke out on property owned by the Ministry of Telecommunications. The site houses an Ogero warehouse containing telecommunications cables, equipment, documents, archives, and technical hardware. The timing of the fire was particularly noteworthy. Telecommunications Minister Charles Hajj had requested an inventory audit of the ministry’s warehouses in Dekwaneh, and the fire erupted just days before that audit was due to take place.

Hajj stressed that “we will take every measure to prevent another fire like the one in Dekwaneh. It is too early to say whether the warehouse fire was deliberately, and I urge everyone not to prejudge the investigation.” Although investigations have also been launched by the security agencies, one question remains: Will these investigations ever reach a conclusion in a country where justice remains paralyzed following what has been described as the crime of the century? Six years have passed since the August 4 Beirut Port explosion, which claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed nearly one-third of the capital, yet the public is still waiting for the indictment .

Two possible scenarios… and one certainty

Security sources affirmed that “fires are among the most difficult cases to investigate, as fingerprints and DNA evidence are often destroyed at the crime scene, making it far more difficult to determine the cause of the fire and conduct a thorough investigation.”

Returning to the possible scenarios, a recurring pattern emerges. The Beirut Port explosion exposed an authority whose negligence and corruption had reached the point of risking the destruction of the capital and its residents for the benefit of those who stored ammonium nitrate at the port. As well as, the theft of the Ministry of Information’s archives exposed a state that failed to safeguard its own official records and archives.

What is particularly striking about the Dekwaneh fire is that the possible scenarios may overlap. One theory is that the blaze was intended to conceal the alleged theft of fiber-optic cables for the benefit of Hezbollah, if those allegations prove to be true, effectively destroying the crime scene to eliminate evidence. Whether this theory is confirmed or not  depends on the outcome of the investigation, if it reaches one. Another possibility is that documents were stolen, damaged, or deliberately disposed of before the inventory audit in an attempt to conceal corruption, theft, financial wast, or information that could have implicated those responsible for the fire. It is also possible that both scenarios occurred simultaneously.

Yet even if both of these scenarios are ultimately ruled out, and even if the fire is found to have been caused by an electrical short circuit  or any other accidental cause, one fact remains unchanged: public safety standards were not being implemented at the Ministry of Telecommunications’ warehouse in Dekwaneh.

Ministries fail to apply public safety standards

Public safety experts told Nidaa Al Watan that the primary purpose of implementing safety standards in ministries, public administrations, and even large companies is to protect employees and visitors, as well as safeguard property, stored materials, particularly flammable ones, and the facilities themselves.

Accordingly, any public institution or administration, even those that do not store hazardous chemicals, should be equipped with early warning systems featuring smoke and heat detectors, automatic fire suppression systems, and manual extinguishers. Employees should also receive regular training on firefighting equipment, evacuation procedures, and designated assembly points in the event of a fire.

Regarding storage, the sources stressed the need to keep flammable materials away from heat sources, avoid storing large quantities in one location, display clear warning signs, and conduct regular inspections, whether daily, weekly, or monthly, to identify potential hazards before they turn into disasters.

The sources noted that these standards are not limited to ministries; they are also mandatory for modern underground parking facilities, which are required to have strict fire detection and suppression systems.

“An agency without a gatekeeper”…

The description of Lebanon’s ministries as an “agency without a gatekeeper” is not merely a metaphor, it is a literal reality, and it represents one of the most serious failures in terms of public security and safety.

In this context, security sources raise the question: “How can several ministries and public administrations remain effectively without permanent security personnel after official working hours, including buildings belonging to the Ministries of Telecommunications, Energy, and Social Affairs, as well as other public institutions?”

By contrast, ministries with security or judicial functions benefit from permanent protection, including the Ministry of Defense, which is guarded by the Lebanese Army; the Ministry of Interior, protected by the Internal Security Forces; the Ministry of Justice, due to the presence of the judicial authorities; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, given the diplomatic nature of its work.

The sources raise a fundamental question: If the state is unable to provide even the minimum level of protection for its sensitive facilities, how can it ensure the security of warehouses containing strategic equipment and official documents? They point to the allocation of large numbers of security personnel to protect individuals, while state institutions themselves remain less protected despite holding assets, documents, and facilities that should be considered part of national security.

The fragility of the public safety system

The investigations may reveal the cause of the Dekwaneh fire, or they may never determine it. However, what the fire exposed from the outset was the fragility of the public safety system across several state facilities and the lack of protection for warehouses that are supposed to form part of Lebanon’s administrative and national security framework.

The question remains: Will the state learn from its disasters, or will every catastrophe become yet another file added to the “archive” of its negligence?