In Lebanon, Some Protest Efforts to Curb Smuggling to Syria

Vehicles are seen at Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanon November 1, 2018. (Reuters)
Vehicles are seen at Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanon November 1, 2018. (Reuters)
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In Lebanon, Some Protest Efforts to Curb Smuggling to Syria

Vehicles are seen at Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanon November 1, 2018. (Reuters)
Vehicles are seen at Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanon November 1, 2018. (Reuters)

Demonstrators blocked a highway connecting Lebanon and Syria on Monday with burned tires and metal bars, protesting a decision by Lebanese authorities aimed at curbing smuggling into Syria, Lebanon’s official news agency reported.

The outcry was particularly striking because it comes amid a worsening fuel shortage in Lebanon that many blame on increased smuggling into Syria from the tiny country.

Lebanon’s cash-strapped government, which has dwindling foreign reserves, is struggling to secure fuel and subsidizing imports that include most of the country’s basic goods and medicine.

Customs authorities in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region announced they will strictly enforce permit requirements for vehicles going into Syria to limit smuggling of fuel.

The National News Agency said dozens of protesters on the international highway demanded the decision be applied to all those crossing into Syria or be scrapped.

Powerful smuggling cartels have operated across the porous borders for years, particularly during the civil war over the last decade in Syria, where economic conditions and shortages are also increasing.

But Lebanon has been experiencing a crippling economic and financial crisis since late 2019. The crisis is rooted in years of corruption and mismanagement, but many also blame smuggling into Syria for now depriving Lebanon’s economy of much needed basics.

With worsening living conditions in Lebanon, some are filling up their cars with goods and fuel and traveling into Syria through the Masnaa crossing to sell them on the other side.

A shortage of fuel is the latest grievance for the Lebanese population, who are quickly sinking into new depths of poverty.

Long lines have formed outside gas stations in cities and towns in Lebanon, choking traffic. Motorists line up for hours to fill up but only receive rationed amounts of fuel. Nerves have frayed in the long waits and in a number of incidents, angry drivers have fired guns in the air to jump the line or demand more fuel.

Power outages have also increased. Generator operators, who typically have made up for a patchy national power grid, are also beginning to ration their services — leaving neighborhoods in total darkness for hours.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.