A new series of lawsuits filed by Lebanese ex-government officials on Thursday threatened once again to stall an investigation into the devastating Beirut port blast that has faced fierce opposition from the political establishment.

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The investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020, blast that killed more than 215 people, injured thousands, and destroyed large swathes of the city has made little headway amid a smear campaign against probe investigator Judge Tarek Bitar and pushback from powerful factions.

Bitar has sought to question top politicians, including former ministers and members of parliament since July but nearly all have spurned him with some raising legal complaints questioning his impartiality. The row over the probe has paralyzed the cabinet with Prime Minister Najib Mikati suspending sessions until a solution to the standoff is found.

Many Lebanese are angry that more than one year on from the blast no senior official has been held accountable for the country's worst peace-time disaster as it slips into political and economic meltdown.

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The leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party on Thursday refuted claims by rival Shiite Hezbollah of seeking to start a civil war.

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In an interview with Lebanese broadcaster MTV, Samir Geagea said the confrontation with Hezbollah was purely political and must remain so.

The Lebanese Forces is a registered political party with official members, he said, contrary to Hezbollah which "legally does not exist as it is not registered with the Interior Ministry and its members are accused of various crimes."

"We do not have fighters," Geagea said.

Nobody should think about confronting Hezbollah militarily, Geagea added, saying that doing so would be a big mistake.

Already suffering a devastating economic meltdown, Lebanon has been overshadowed by renewed tensions since seven Shiite Muslims were shot dead in Beirut last week during the worst street violence in the capital in more than a decade.

The heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah accused the Lebanese Forces of perpetrating the killing and attempting to instigate a civil war.

"The real agenda of the Lebanese Forces is civil war," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech, adding that his Iran-backed terrorist organization would not be dragged into one.

Thursday's shooting started as supporters of the Shiite group and ally Amal were gathering for a demonstration against Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator in the Beirut port blast probe.

Geagea said that while he initially thought Hezbollah had nothing to do with the explosion, "with its recent actions it is telling us that perhaps it might be concerned" over the matter.

Hezbollah has been leading demands for Bitar to be removed, accusing him of bias. The lead investigator has sought to question several Hezbollah allies on suspicion of negligence that led to the blast, which killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of Beirut.

In its efforts to stop the probe, Hezbollah has taken the current government "hostage," Geagea said, referring to how the standoff over Bitar has paralyzed the cabinet.

Geagea also told reporters that he had been summoned for questioning over the shooting.

"I am ready to appear before the judge, on one condition: that Hassan Nasrallah does it before me," he said.

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The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah said Monday that last week's shooting in Beirut – in which seven Shiite Muslims were shot dead – was a dangerous development and marked a new phase in the country's internal politics.

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In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah lashed out at the Christian Lebanese Forces party and its head Samir Geagea, repeating accusations that they were responsible for the killings on Thursday.

"The real agenda of the Lebanese Forces is civil war," he said, adding that the army was the guarantee against such a conflict in the country and that his group would not be dragged into one.

Nasrallah showcased Hezbollah's power, stressing the group had 100,000 fighters but pointed out they were recruited to defend Lebanon from external enemies and not to engage in a civil war.

He said Hezbollah, which has become one of the most powerful players in Lebanese politics, was not the enemy of Lebanese Christians.

"The biggest threat to the Christian presence in Lebanon is the Lebanese Forces party and its head," Nasrallah said. "I advise the Lebanese Forces party to give up this idea of internal strife and civil war. You are wrong 100%, your calculations are wrong. The region has never seen Hezbollah as strong as it is now."

The bloodshed, which stirred memories of the 1975-1990 civil war, added to fears for the stability of a country that is awash with weapons and suffering an economic meltdown.

The LF has denied it started the fighting last week. It blamed the violence on Hezbollah "incitement" against Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator in an investigation into the port explosion.

Despite his tough stand, Nasrallah dedicated a significant part of his speech to trying to reassure Lebanon's Christians, saying Hezbollah was protecting their rights and is allied with the largest Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement.

Lebanon's Shiite Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally, said earlier that the Beirut violence was intended to reignite internal strife and threaten peace.

The seven victims were killed as crowds headed for a demonstration called by Amal and Hezbollah to protest against Bitar.

Nasrallah reiterated his objection to the blast probe, which he has said is not objective, saying the way it was being handled would not lead to truth or justice.

Amal, which is led by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, one of the most powerful political figures in the country, urged the authorities to arrest all those responsible for the violence.

The inquiry into the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion, which killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of Beirut, has made little headway amid pushback from political factions, including Hezbollah.

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Lebanon was on edge over the weekend after seven people were shot and killed during a pro-Hezbollah march in Beirut calling for the removal of the judge investigating last year's Beirut port blast.

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In the wake of accusations that the Christian "Lebanese Forces" party and its leader Samir Geagea were behind the incident, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, ran a front page story depicting Geagea as Adolf Hitler under the headline, "No Doubt."

In the article, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Ibrahim al-Amine, wrote that Geagea "still doesn't care about faces, names or loved ones."

"Samir Geagea, you were the first to know what happened yesterday. Not through intelligence you never knew existed, but because you planned and prepared and carried out a crime that matches what you have done since you took up arms. It is a crime. Greater than all the crimes you have committed here and there, as [you strive] to start a widespread civil war… And you were not the only one to know what happened yesterday," al-Amine wrote.

A Beirut resident who spoke with Israel Hayom said the shooting at Shiite protesters was carried out by snipers and gunmen stationed on the roofs and balconies of buildings located along the route of Hezbollah and Amal supporters.

"Hezbollah and Amal [activists] deliberately passed through the Christian neighborhoods to provoke and defy the Christian residents as most of those killed and injured in the blast at the port were Christian residents in neighborhoods west of Beirut near the port," the resident said.

"They thought we would sit quietly while Hezbollah tried to steal Lebanon and turn it into another Iranian province as is happening in Syria. We are tired of Hezbollah doing everything to destroy Lebanon. The criminal negligence that caused the port explosion is also a result of Hezbollah's corrupt conduct in the country," he added.

Late Friday, Geagea denied that his group had planned the street violence and said a meeting held the day before was purely political.

Geagea told Voice of Beirut International radio that a meeting held on Wednesday by a political grouping the Lebanese Forces belongs to had discussed action options should Iran-backed Hezbollah succeed in efforts to remove the judge, Tarek Bitar.

He said the option agreed upon in that event was to call for a public strike, and nothing else.

Asked whether the presence of Lebanese Forces members in the areas of the Christian Ain al-Remmaneh and Teyouneh neighborhoods, where the shooting erupted, meant the incident was planned, Geagea said they were always present in these areas.

The security coordinator in the party contacted the authorities when they heard a protest was planned and asked for a heavy military presence in the area "as our priority was for the demonstration to pass by simply as a demonstration and not affect civil peace," Geagea said.

Geagea said his party was assured that would be the case.

"The army has arrested snipers so they need to tell us who they are and where they came from," he told the radio station.

Nineteen people have been detained so far in relation to the incident.

Geagea, whose party has close ties to Saudi Arabia, also criticized Lebanese President Michel Aoun over a phone call between the two during the incident.

Aoun's party, the Free Patriotic Movement, Lebanon's largest Christian bloc, is an ally of Hezbollah.

"I didn't like this call at all," Geagea said, saying Aoun implicitly made the same accusations of involvement that Hezbollah has by asking him to calm down the situation.

"This is totally unacceptable," said Geagea.

Perhaps surprisingly, meanwhile, the leader of the Free Patriotic movement, Gebran Bassil, said on Saturday that the investigation into the Beirut port blast should not be stopped, contrary to the position of ally Hezbollah.

"The Free Patriotic movement is [in favor of] continuing the probe, revealing the truth and putting those responsible on trial," Bassil said in a speech.

Bassil, who is Aoun's son-in-law, was hit with US sanctions last year for alleged corruption and his ties to Hezbollah. He has denied the allegations.

France, the United States and United Nations have appealed for calm but also insisted on the need to allow the port explosion probe to continue unhindered.

Thursday's violence has added to concerns for the stability of a country that is awash with weapons and grappling with an economic meltdown.

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