Justice Palace in Beirut

Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the investigation into Beirut's deadly 2020 port blast, refused on Wednesday to step down from the probe, rejecting charges filed against him by Lebanon's top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat in the charged case.

Bitar dropped a surprise earlier this week charging several powerful figures -- including prosecutor general Oueidat -- over the blast and reviving a probe that was suspended for over a year amid intense political and legal pushback.

One of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions, the August 4, 2020 blast, destroyed much of Beirut port and surrounding areas, killing more than 215 people and injuring over 6,500.

Oueidat charged Bitar in order to "prevent sedition"

Oueidat on Tuesday sent a letter to Bitar saying his probe remained suspended and on Wednesday issued a decision, saying the judge did not have the authority to resume his investigation.

The prosecution service rejected the resumption of the probe. "We were only informed of Bitar's decision through the media," Oueidat told AFP, adding that "since he considers that the general prosecution doesn't exist, we will also act like he doesn't exist."

On Wednesday, Oueidat told AFP that, in order to "prevent sedition", he had "charged investigative judge Tarek Bitar and banned him from travel for rebelling against the judiciary and usurping power."

Bitar says he will not step down

On his part, Bitar said he is still "the investigative judge and I will not step down from this case."

Oueidat "cannot charge a judge who has already charged him," he told AFP, adding that the chief prosecutor "has no authority to charge me."

He told Reuters that he would "continue until I issue an indictment" and said that Oueidat "had no right" to file the charge or release detainees.

A judicial official said Oueidat, who has rejected the charges, had summoned Bitar for Thursday morning but that the investigating judge would "not appear for questioning."

A US State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that "we support and urge Lebanese authorities to complete a swift and transparent investigation into the horrific explosion at the Port of Beirut."

Authorities said the mega-explosion was caused by a fire in a portside warehouse where a vast stockpile of the industrial chemical ammonium nitrate had been haphazardly stored for years.

Oueidat releases all those detained over the explosion

Bitar resumed work on the investigation after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight top officials over the blast -- including Oueidat, the head of General Security Abbas Ibrahim, and State Security agency chief Tony Saliba.

Oueidat, who has rejected the charges, on Wednesday ordered the "release of all those detained over the Beirut port explosion case, without exception" and banned them from travel, according to a judicial document seen by AFP.

Those ordered released include a dual American-Lebanese citizen, as well as the port chief and the head of customs Badri Daher.

Bitar has planned to question 14 suspects next month, including five officials whom he had indicted earlier -- among them ex-prime minister Hassan Diab and former ministers.