Hezbollah’s Call to Bring in Fuel from Iran Deepens ‘Sovereignty Crisis’ in Lebanon

A worker fills up a storage tank at a petrol station in Beirut, Lebanon. (Reuters)
A worker fills up a storage tank at a petrol station in Beirut, Lebanon. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah’s Call to Bring in Fuel from Iran Deepens ‘Sovereignty Crisis’ in Lebanon

A worker fills up a storage tank at a petrol station in Beirut, Lebanon. (Reuters)
A worker fills up a storage tank at a petrol station in Beirut, Lebanon. (Reuters)

Calls by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on the Lebanese government to buy fuel from Iran has sparked a wave of criticism and warnings that he was eroding what is left of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Nasrallah had challenged the state to make a “bold” move to buy the fuel, otherwise his party would do so unilaterally. He made the suggestion even as the state may risk being slapped with US sanctions.

Lebanon has been grappling with a fuel crisis for months. It has deepened in recent weeks due to the severe rationing of the distribution of subsidized diesel fuel and car fuel. The Lebanese people are now forced to wait in endless queues at gas stations to fill up.

Nasrallah described the scene as “humiliating”, saying the state was “incapable” of taking a bold move because of the threat of American sanctions.

Washington has imposed severe sanctions on Iran and Lebanese banks have strictly avoided falling under its wrath.

The former Trump administration since 2018 has imposed sweeping sanctions aimed at ending all of Iran's key oil exports, punishing any country that buys oil from it.

Head of the Justicia law firm, Dr. Paul Morcos stressed that American law prohibit the import of Iranian oil, which would put Lebanon in direct danger of sanctions should Nasrallah go ahead with his threat.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that such a move will lead to numerous complications, such as the funding of the oil and how to ship it given Israel’s watchful eye in the Mediterranean.

Head of the Lady of the Mountain Gathering, former MP Fares Soaid dismissed Nasrallah’s statements.

“If Iran were capable of exporting oil to the region, it would have done so to Syria, which is under its protection,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“It would have spared its ally - the Syrian regime - the smuggling of oil and search for dollars to buy oil from the Lebanese market,” he added.

“The most dangerous aspect of Nasrallah’s statements is that he has openly declared that the Lebanese state does not exist,” he noted. He has completely dismissed its laws, constitution and president.

“Nasrallah is the one who decides to bring in oil to the country. He holds the decision to go to war or make peace. He decides when a government can be formed. He is the president of the republic. He oversees the ports and airports. He closes the investigation into the Beirut port explosion. In sum, he is the be all and end all in Lebanon, its state and institutions and all parties work for him,” Soaid remarked.

Director of Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, Dr. Sami Nader said that Nasrallah’s statements were a flagrant act of defiance of the state and officials should address them.

“If China were unable to buy oil from Iran, then how can Lebanon?!” he wondered.

Such a move would lead to economic sanctions and deepen Lebanon’s isolation, he warned.

“Let Nasrallah send oil to Syria, perhaps then the smuggling from Lebanon to Syrian territories would end and perhaps we could then put an end to the crisis that has been compounded by this illicit activity,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In neighboring Syria, ravaged by years of war, people often queue for hours at petrol stations for meager rations of fuel.

The Syrian government in March raised petrol prices by more than 50 percent.

In Lebanon, a 20-liter tank of state-subsidized petrol is much cheaper than in Syria. Many Syrians with the financial means prefer to buy Lebanese fuel, smuggled across the border, at a mark-up of up to $25 per tank -- instead of waiting sometimes for upwards of six hours for minimal fuel supplies through official channels.

Lebanese officials have long blamed such contraband activities for fuel shortages in Lebanon, but have not given details.



Hamas Official Says Group ‘Appreciates’ Lebanon’s Right to Reach Agreement

 A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
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Hamas Official Says Group ‘Appreciates’ Lebanon’s Right to Reach Agreement

 A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday the group "appreciates" Lebanon's right to reach an agreement that protects its people and it hopes for a deal to end the war in Gaza.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France, but international efforts to halt the 14-month-old war between Hamas and Israel in the Palestinian territory of Gaza have stalled.

"Hamas appreciates the right of Lebanon and Hezbollah to reach an agreement that protects the people of Lebanon and we hope that this agreement will pave the way to reaching an agreement that ends the war of genocide against our people in Gaza," Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Later on Wednesday, the group said in a statement it was open to efforts to secure a deal in Gaza, reiterating its outstanding conditions.

"We are committed to cooperating with any effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and we are interested in ending the aggression against our people," Hamas said.

It added that an agreement must end the war, pull Israeli forces out of Gaza, return displaced Gazans to their homes, and achieve a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.

Without a similar deal in Gaza, many residents said they felt abandoned. In the latest violence, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 15 people on Wednesday, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics there said.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar saying it has told the two warring parties it would suspend its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.

Abu Zuhri blamed the failure to reach a ceasefire deal that would end the Gaza war on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly accused Hamas of foiling efforts.

"Hamas showed high flexibility to reach an agreement and it is still committed to that position and is interested in reaching an agreement that ends the war in Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

"The problem was always with Netanyahu who has always escaped from reaching an agreement," he added.

Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war in Gaza and sees the release of Israeli and foreign hostages as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu has said the war can only end after Hamas is eradicated.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, senior Palestinian Authority Hussein Al-Sheikh welcomed the agreement in Lebanon.

"We welcome the decision to ceasefire in Lebanon, and we call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its criminal war in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and to stop all its escalatory measures against the Palestinian people," Sheikh, a confidant of President Mahmoud Abbas, posted on X.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday his administration was pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.