Official Warns Against Lebanon’s Violation of Caesar Act after Syrian Oxygen Donation

Former deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani.
Former deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani.
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Official Warns Against Lebanon’s Violation of Caesar Act after Syrian Oxygen Donation

Former deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani.
Former deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani.

The Lebanese Forces party warned that dealing at the ministerial level with the Syrian regime “may formally expose Lebanon to US sanctions, under the Caesar Act.”

This comes after the minister of health in the caretaker government, Hamad Hasan, visited Damascus and received a Syrian donation of 75 tons of oxygen.

On Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced that 25 tons of oxygen would be sent to Lebanon in a first batch, according to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA), as part of the 75 tons the Syrian authorities have pledged to provide to the country.

Former deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani said the agreement to receive oxygen from Syria had no added value as Lebanon imports oxygen from multiple countries when the demand temporarily exceeds the production capacity of local laboratories.

Hasbani noted that a Lebanese-Syrian private factory was meeting the oxygen needs, but suddenly its trucks coming from Syria were prevented from entering the Lebanese territories.

“Importing from the private sector is one thing and dealing at the ministerial level is quite another,” he warned, adding that Lebanon might be formally exposed to US sanctions, such as the Caesar Act, if this relationship continues and involves financial or in-kind exchange, such as medications and vaccines.

Earlier this week, Hasan had arrived in Damascus on an unannounced visit.

He told reporters: “We have nearly a thousand patients on respirators in the intensive care rooms. Had the remaining quantities were exhausted, which were only enough until today (Wednesday), thousands of lives would have been lost.”

He noted that “bad weather” impeded the arrival of “shipments from various sources to Lebanon.”



At Least 12 Killed Overnight by Israeli Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Palestinians stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
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At Least 12 Killed Overnight by Israeli Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Palestinians stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

At least 12 people including children were killed overnight in Gaza by Israeli strikes, hospital workers said Wednesday.
The pre-dawn strikes hit three houses in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, according to staff at the Al-Aqsa hospital, which received the bodies. Among the dead were three children, including two brothers whose bodies arrived in pieces, according to the hospital’s morgue.
Israel has carried out daily strikes on Gaza since ending its ceasefire with Hamas last month. It has cut off the territory’s 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, since the beginning of March in what it says is an attempt to pressure the militant group to release hostages.
The strikes come after more than two dozen people were killed earlier this week in Gaza City and Beit Lahiya.
Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the territory's Health Ministry.