The employees and workers of Beirut Port suspended on Wednesday morning what would have been a two-day warning strike to protest the collection of waste within the facility's AB bloc, shortly after it was launched. The employees suspended their protest after receiving confirmation from Premiere Tammam Salam that the port lands would not be used as a dump site. Preparations for the alleged waste dumping operation had reportedly stopped on Monday, but were re-launched Tuesday amid the intensive scrutiny of the Syndicate of Beirut Port Workers and Employees. The syndicate held contacts with all concerned parties to forge solutions that would "evade the imminent environmental dangers that would follow, should the waste dumping operation go through." The executive council and the Syndicate of Beirut Port Workers and Employees alongside Lebanon's Union of Grain Silo Workers had teamed up to join efforts for the strike, which included the suspension of work originally set for the entirety of Wednesday and Thursday. Earlier, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour contacted Prime Minister Tammam Salam and briefed him over the dangers that would come as a result of using lands in the port as a dump site, which lies adjacent to Beirut’s main fish market and slaughterhouse, in addition to the grain silos. In turn, PM Salam stressed that neither him nor Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq had taken the decision to dump garbage in the region out of their "keenness to protect the people's health." Abou Faour had held a news conference on Monday, stressing that waste should not be dumped within close range to any facility that deals with food goods. The government has been dumping waste in Karantina, close to the port, after failing to find a new landfill for Beirut's trash, with several villages and towns across Lebanon refusing to play host to more landfills. The crisis began when protesters closed the Naameh landfill on July 17, after which Sukleen, the company managing Beirut and Mount Lebanon’s waste, stopped all collection of waste and garbage. This led to garbage stacking in the streets, prompting residents to resort to setting dumpsters on fire. Collection of garbage later resumed with waste being dumped under bridges, in valleys and in other locations as the Lebanese state continues to fail to find alternative means to deal with the waste management crisis.