Tension over Beirut blast probe tips Lebanon into new crisis

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the grain silo that was damaged during last year's Beirut port blast, during sunset in Beirut, Lebanon, July 29, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Growing tension over a judicial probe into last year's Beirut port blast threatens to push Lebanon into yet another political crisis, testing Prime Minister Najib Mikati's new government as it struggles to dig the country out of economic collapse.

More than a year since the explosion ripped through Beirut, killing more than 200 people, Judge Tarek Bitar's efforts to hold senior officials to account for suspected negligence are facing mounting political pushback, much of it driven by the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah.