The families of Bab al-Tabbaneh had little warning. The two adjoining buildings stood in the poor Tripoli neighbourhood, and on the morning of February 8, 2026, one side gave way at the lower floors. Then both structures collapsed almost together, throwing dust and debris across the surrounding streets and leaving neighbours clawing at the rubble for anyone who had been inside.
By the time civil defence teams ended their search on Monday, the toll had climbed to at least 14 dead, up from nine earlier in the day, while eight people were pulled out alive. State media later put the figure at 15. The two blocks held six apartments each, and municipal records listed 22 residents, though authorities cautioned that the true number inside at the moment of collapse may never be known.
For the families in the evacuated buildings next door, the coming days are the uncertain part. President Joseph Aoun ordered emergency services onto high alert and told them to find shelter for people living in neighbouring buildings that had been cleared for fear they might fall too. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the collapse a “humanitarian catastrophe” that followed “years of accumulated neglect”.
For the city’s mayor, it was the last of many warnings. Abdel Hamid Karimeh told journalists that “Thousands of our people in Tripoli are threatened due to years of neglect”, then submitted his resignation to the interior minister, having earlier declared Tripoli “disaster-stricken”. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, on the scene, said there was “a lot of anger” in the town, where families in at-risk buildings have “nowhere to go”.
Rescue work drew on the civil defence, the Lebanese Red Cross and residents of the neighbourhood, who rushed in to clear debris and open gaps in the wreckage. Justice Minister Adel Nassar asked the northern public prosecutor to open an immediate investigation.
It was the fifth residential building to fail in Tripoli this winter. In January, the head of Lebanon’s higher relief authority said 105 buildings in the city needed immediate evacuation notices. Much of the danger is old: some blocks went up illegally during the 1975-1990 civil war, and others gained extra floors without permits afterward.
Sources
- Building collapse in Lebanon’s Tripoli kills at least 14 people | News | Al Jazeera
- Tripoli building collapse traps residents under rubble | AnewZ
