Lebanese hold Friday prayers in damaged mosque

Some worshippers were allowed to perform the prayers in the mosque in downtown Beirut, where the Imam addressed the recent blast that claimed the lives of more than 145 people and injured 5,000.

"What happened in this blast is bigger than all what happened in bombings and shelling during Lebanon war that we all witnessed," Imam of the mosque Amin Al Kurdi said.

He demanded that those responsible are held accountable. Few people were allowed in the mosque to keep social distancing measures as numbers of coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country.

The blast blew up on Tuesday (August 4), sending a mushroom cloud and fireball into the sky, killing at least 154 people and smashing a swathe of the city.

Nearly 250,000 people lost their homes.

Many Lebanese say the explosion and circumstances surrounding it are symptomatic of political cronyism and rampant graft among the ruling elite, who have presided over the nation as its economy has collapsed.