EDL: Lebanon at Risk of Complete Blackout by End-Sept

The capital city of Beirut remains in darkness during a power outage, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The capital city of Beirut remains in darkness during a power outage, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
TT
20

EDL: Lebanon at Risk of Complete Blackout by End-Sept

The capital city of Beirut remains in darkness during a power outage, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The capital city of Beirut remains in darkness during a power outage, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon's state electricity company (EDL) said on Thursday it risked a total blackout across the country by end-September as its fuel oil reserves dwindle.

Lebanon, in the throes of one of the worst economic meltdowns of modern history, has been plagued by worsening fuel shortages for the past few months with most Lebanese relying on private generators for power.

The company can generate less than 500 megawatts from fuel oil it secured through a deal with Iraq, Reuters quoted it as saying in a statement.

It said its reserves of both Grade A and Grade B fuel oil had reached a critical point and had run out already for some plants that have now stopped production.

"The network already experienced total blackouts across the country seven times and if this continues there is a high risk of reaching total and complete blackout by end September," the statement said.

Iraq signed an agreement in July allowing the cash-strapped Lebanese government to pay for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil a year in goods and services.

The heavy fuel oil is not suitable for use in Lebanon, but it is exchanged in tenders for a suitable grade.



Swiss Move to Dissolve Gaza Aid Delivery Group's Geneva Branch

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
TT
20

Swiss Move to Dissolve Gaza Aid Delivery Group's Geneva Branch

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Switzerland on Wednesday initiated proceedings to dissolve the Geneva branch of the controversial, US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid group, citing legal shortcomings in its establishment.

The GHF began handing out food packages in the Gaza Strip at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid deliveries that has drawn UN criticism over a perceived lack of neutrality in Gaza's war as well as the killings of hundreds of Palestinians in mass shootings near its distribution hubs, Reuters reported.

The GHF is registered in the US state of Delaware and had registered an affiliate in Geneva on February 12.

"The ESA may order the dissolution of the foundation if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period," the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) said in a creditors notice published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce on Wednesday.

The ESA told Reuters the GHF had not fulfilled certain legal requirements including having the correct number of board members, a postal address or a Swiss bank account.

"GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland...and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered (branch)," the ESA said in a statement.

Last week, Geneva authorities issued a separate legal notice to the GHF to remedy within 30 days "deficiencies in the organization" or face potential action.

More than 500 people have been killed near GHF distribution hubs in Gaza or along access roads guarded by Israeli forces since the GHF started operating, according to Palestinian medical authorities in the territory.

Israel's military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians have been harmed near the distribution centers and its forces had been issued new instructions following what it called "lessons learned".

The GHF has said that it has delivered more than 52 million meals to needy Palestinians in five weeks and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted".

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies in Gaza after a nearly two-year war by Israel against militant group Hamas that has displaced most of the enclave's two million inhabitants and left much of it in rubble.