Hezbollah affiliated fuel tanks reach Lebanon on Thursday.
Lebanon, facing an economic crashdown, received a forty truck convoy with Iran generated fuel from Syria, Al Jazeera reported.
The Iranian militant group Hezbollah imported eighty lorries with around four convoys into Lebanon on Thursday. BBC reported about 4 m litres of diesel reached the country dock through Syria. It is the first shipment of fuel that Iran promised to send to the energy-ridden economy.
Al Jazeera reported that Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, said Iran would donate its one month fuel with Lebanon. Till now, no officials from Lebanon and the US have made any official statement on the shipment.
The country has been facing an economic breakdown followed by an energy shortage. According to a news agency, the Lebanon pound lost 90 per cent of its value post the 2019 crisis.
Lebanon crisis
Lebanon ranked 137th out of 180 in the Transparency International 2019 Corruption Perceptions Tax.
During 2019, the country’s debt to its gross domestic product was the third-highest globally, with 25 per cent of its population being unemployed. One-third of its population lived below poverty, BBC reported.
While the country was fighting the financial emergency, Lebanon witnessed Beirut port’s explosion. The event made people more angry and agitated as it questioned years of government negligence and failure.
The catastrophic blast took more than 200 lives, but the UN watchdog has so far held no one accountable for the mismanagement that led to the explosion. The government collapse and the debt-ridden situation added to the complete exhaustion of energy in the county.
Iran, Hezbollah and Lebanon relations
Iran holds strong ties with Lebanon due to its majority Shia population. Hezbollah, meaning ‘the Party of God’, is a Lebanon based Shia militant group backed by Iran, and the organisation has been termed a terrorist organisation by the United States.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the organisation founded to wipe out Lebanon’s Western powers is a Shiite resistance.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran
According to a Business Standard article, the US is negotiating to renegotiate Iran’s sanctions by reimposing the 2015 nuclear deal.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) limits Iran’s uranium and atomic enrichment work, signed by the United States and other world powers in 2015. If Iran and others agree, the deal will ease the trade and other sanctions imposed on the country.
Consequences of Iran exporting fuel
As the Biden administration is still in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran stays unprotected from the US sanctions. The American embassy in Beirut has been quiet on the matter, the New York Times reported.
IMF fund to Lebanon
The Lebanon finance ministry told Reuters that the country’s central bank would receive $1.135 million from the International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
The newly formed Lebanese government resumed talks with the IMF, although it has not yet revealed how to monitor the funds.
The newly formed Lebanese government resumed talks with the IMF, although it has not yet revealed how to monitor the funds. The EU parliament warned that if the administration of new prime minister Najib Mikati collapses, he will face penalties.
A retired Lebanese army General said that the country faces an emergency with hospitals and institutions running out of electricity and fuel. Hence the government authorities do not care, even if the trucks entered illegally. The New York Times published the statement on no legal clarity of the fuel convoy.
