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Tanzina Vega: Last week in Beirut, thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the city's port. At least 150 people were killed, more than 5000 were injured, and more than 300,000 people lost their homes. For a country that had already been experiencing a devastating economic crisis, the explosion has only worsened conditions in Lebanon.

Liz Sly: All the Lebanese I know wanted to leave before this crisis. If you've lost everything you have, there's no money or option of rebuilding. I think a lot of people are looking to leave the country at the moment. That's another tragedy because it's a brain-drain, and it's a drain of talent in people from this country.

Tanzina: That was Liz Sly, Beirut bureau chief for The Washington Post. In response to the explosion, thousands of Lebanese took to the streets, clashing with security forces.

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On Monday, top officials from the Lebanese state resigned, including the Prime Minister. The situation has many people around the world, particularly those from Lebanon, watching to see what happens next in their country. I'm Tanzina Vega and that's where we start today on The Takeaway.

Sulome Anderson is a Lebanese American journalist and the author of The Hostage's Daughter: A Story of Family, Madness, and the Middle East. She's been watching the situation in Lebanon unfold from Canada. Sulome, thanks so much for joining us.

Sulome Anderson: Thank you so much for having me.

Tanzina: What have you been hearing from family who are living in Lebanon, are they okay?

Sulome: They're all safe, thank God, but the situation, it's been deteriorating for some time, there's a level of hopelessness. Actually, where my house is, it's about 15 miles away from Beirut, and our windows were blown in, and that's how powerful the blast was. Thank God, my family is safe, but the situation is such that they're just despondent.

Tanzina: Talking about the Lebanese diaspora, watching this from outside of the country, and I'm wondering how are people responding that you're in touch with, in terms of folks who are seeing this unfold?

Sulome: There's a helplessness that really can't be explained. Everybody watching it from outside, it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion, except everyone you love is on the train. It's really horrific, and I think the strange part about this, there's a sense of guilt, at least for me, that I'm not there, I should be there, I should be witnessing this. Maybe that has something to do with me being a journalist, but, at the same time, I think a lot of Lebanese outside of Lebanon feel that, like they should be there helping in some way, or protesting with their families, and there's this impotence that's really, really difficult for all of us.

Tanzina: We heard that there have been top officials who have resigned including a couple of ministers. As you see their resignations, where do you think that leaves Lebanon right now?

Sulome: To be honest, this is not the first time the government has resigned, where it leaves Lebanon, it might just be in the same place that it has been before. The problem with this government is that, even if the government resigns, the likelihood of them bringing in new blood is, people who are really going to institute reforms, is extremely slim. Chances are this government will just be reshuffled, the same players will reappear again, or maybe people who are serving as proxies for those players that are completely responsible for the state that Lebanon is in and the Beirut blast.

It's really hard to say the chances of anything really changing in a substantive way. I wish I had more hope for that, but--

Tanzina: You've been aware of conflict in Lebanon since the time you were born, your father, Terry Anderson, had a big role in your understanding of that, tell us about him.

Sulome: Both my parents, my father was the Beirut bureau chief for the Associated Press, and my mother was a reporter with ABC and a fixer. Both of my parents covered the Civil War. My father was kidnapped three months before I was born, and he was released almost seven years later.

I grew up just surrounded by war and Lebanese conflict. I remember the first time in my life seeing the aftermath of an explosion. I think I was like two or three, in footage, but I was in and out of Lebanon during the war as well. I was in shellings, I remember the tension and the sound of gunfire. I never saw the actual worst of it as a child, thank God, in person, but I was just surrounded by, constantly- my parents' friends were journalists covering that and knowing my father was in prison there throughout my whole childhood, really shaped my understanding of the country.

Tanzina: There are now protests taking place in Lebanon, and they're calling for the end of the current regime. Tell us what you're seeing as far as the protests, as they're unfolding. Lebanon has historically had conflict, but is this different from what you've seen in the past?

Sulome: The level of rage is much higher than, I think, it's ever been, but Lebanon has been protesting for some time. The Lebanese people have been in the streets on and off for a few years now, starting with the garbage crisis when basically, to make a long story short, the leaders of Lebanon were too busy arguing with each other over who got the biggest cut of the garbage disposal, the waste disposal process.

They didn't pick up the trash in Beirut for, I don't know, almost a year, and it was a nightmare. The rage at the government, their incompetence, their corruption has been going back some time. The protests have been growing and growing in size, following the economic collapse, following that just the complete outrage and horror at the level of mismanagement, the level of corruption that's going on in the government.

It's going to grow in size, and the rage is going to grow. The issue is, what's going to happen? What can anyone do to change this situation? I'm not sure what the answer to that is. Is this different from other times? It's different from other times because it's just, we've been brought to the point where there is- we have nothing left as a country in terms of a state. There's literally nothing. The state, the government is responsible for the deaths of over 200 Lebanese, and displacement, people are angry, people are furious, but the issue is what happens next? Is there a plan? Let's say the government-- after the government resigns--

Tanzina: Who are they angry at, Sulome, though, where are they pointing the finger right now?

Sulome: At the entire structure, the entire ruling structure of Lebanon. This is what I would call a mafia government. These people are warlords. Most of them have been around since the Civil War, some of them are literally war criminals, and they have been running Lebanon like their personal con, their Ponzi scheme, for way too long now, and people are pointing the finger at them because look what happened, these explosives were left in the center of the city for over six years. What kind of government is so inept and incompetent that they can't dispose of explosives in the middle of their city? That's the lowest you can go.

Tanzina: What about the international response, Sulome, to what's happening in Lebanon. Would you say that it's been sufficient, or has international powers really contributed to what we're seeing right now?

Sulome: International powers can't be blamed for the blast. That's really something that the Lebanese government, that's the blame. Let's say even if like some people are saying, someone else set off the explosion, no one else kept those explosives there for six years. There's really nowhere else to blame, but as far as international, the international response to Lebanon, foreign countries have been meddling in Lebanon before it was even a country.

You have France and England, some time ago, and now in recent years, you have, let's see, Syria, Israel, America to some extent, Saudi Arabia, Iran. These are all countries that have interest in Lebanon and have been, in some way, influencing affairs there. There is a legacy of foreign interference in Lebanon that has led to the place that it is now in terms of vulnerability, instability of the state. Yes, there is a role in that, but as far this goes, no, this is squarely on the backs of the Lebanese government.

Tanzina: Is there a concern that this could lead to a bigger conflict in Lebanon, particularly between Hezbollah and Israel?

Sulome: The threat of another war with Israel has been hanging over Lebanon for a long, long time. Now, I would say maybe that's not such a concern at this moment, but the possibility of instability is already unstable. It's kind of a miracle that hasn't exploded into some larger conflict yet.

The fact of the matter is, if Lebanon falls into a conflict, let's say between Hezbollah or Israel, or a civil war, God forbid any of these things, this is not something that will be contained to one country. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, from my perspective, stability in Lebanon is the glue that holds the entire Levant together, because you have Syria next door, you have Israel on the other side, it's like just a bonfire soaked in gasoline waiting for a match. Yes, hopefully, things straighten out there, but the situation is very concerning, and it should be concerning for Americans too, because we have interest there, and our interests don't lie in the entire region, going up in flames.

Tanzina: Do you see a solution for Lebanese people to get the justice that they deserve right now?

Sulome: I think, Lebanese people, the only chance they have of anything changing is if they completely reject sectarianism and the forces that have exploited their differences and their sectarianism for their own purposes. If the Lebanese turn away from that, stand together, demand certain things, stay in the streets but united, that is the key, that Lebanese people have to be united for maybe the first time in their history.

They have to stand together and just say, "Enough, we are together." During the protests recently, there was an expression [foreign language], which means all of them is all of them. That means the government, there's no choosing favorites. There's no we side with this party, we side with this sect. No, the entire country all the Lebanese people have to stand together now and rebuild their country if they have any chance of survival of this country that is really a very special place.

The whole world is watching what's happening in Lebanon, and there's a poignancy to it, because most people, especially people of a certain age, remember Lebanon the way it used to be, it was like "wow," the Paris of the Middle East, Beirut was. It was a sophisticated place, and to know what it used to be and to see what's happening now, I think it's breaking a lot of people's hearts all over the world.

Tanzina: Sulome Anderson is a Lebanese American journalist and author of The Hostage’s Daughter: A Story of Family, Madness, and the Middle East. Sulome, thanks so much.

Sulome: Thanks.

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