Lebanon's leaders resign in wake of deadly explosion & violent protests

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) – The government of Lebanon Prime Minister Hassan Diab has resigned just six days after that massive blast in Beirut’s port, which left at least 160 people dead. More than 6,000 wounded and made 300,000 people homeless.

The blast was followed by days of violent demonstrations in downtown Beirut, where people blamed not just the government, but the Lebanese state for failing to stop this sort of disaster from happening.

In his speech, the prime minister said that the system of corruption in Lebanon is bigger than the state. He blamed, without specifying anyone or any group in particular, corrupt leaders who made it impossible for this government to deal with corruption to deal with the collapse of the Lebanese economy, which has seen the local currency, the Lira lose almost 70% of its value. The World Bank is now projecting that more than 50% of the population here will fall below the poverty line.

Now, the government is going to be a caretaker government led by Hassan Diab himself, but it’s going to be difficult to imagine how it is going to be able to deal any better with the problems of Lebanon than when it was a proper government. Now it’s up to the same warlords who formed this government to try to come up with some sort of new government. And it’s highly unlikely that whatever it comes up with will be acceptable to a Lebanese people wounded by this blast in the port of Beirut and suffering from the collapse of the local economy