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Iraq Grapples with Fuel Crisis

Iraqis crowd a Baghdad petrol station to fill up after some filling stations shut off their pumps to protest government policies on fuel. (AFP)
Iraqis crowd a Baghdad petrol station to fill up after some filling stations shut off their pumps to protest government policies on fuel. (AFP)
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Iraq Grapples with Fuel Crisis

Iraqis crowd a Baghdad petrol station to fill up after some filling stations shut off their pumps to protest government policies on fuel. (AFP)
Iraqis crowd a Baghdad petrol station to fill up after some filling stations shut off their pumps to protest government policies on fuel. (AFP)

Motorists in Iraq formed long queues for fuel Thursday after some owners of filling stations shut off their pumps to protest government policies on fuel distribution and pricing.

Some government-run fuel stations have been ordered to operate around the clock to meet demand, the official news agency INA reported.

Dozens of vehicles were lined up at stations that remained open.

Some owners of petrol stations have denounced the method of fuel distribution imposed by the authorities, complaining they end up paying more for the quantity of fuel they receive from the government than what they say it is worth.

Iraq is the second largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and oil provides more than 90 percent of its income.

But the country, with a population of about 41 million, is also grappling with a major energy crisis and regular power cuts.

In recent days, private stations had already suspended their activities in the southern city of Najaf, according to INA.

The government has played down the problem, saying it is limited to "certain stations" in the capital Baghdad and the central and southern provinces, said Ihsan Mussa Ghanem, deputy head of the Iraqi agency in charge of distributing petroleum products.

In a statement, his agency said the owners of the closed stations were "manufacturing crises and obstructing the distribution of gasoline to citizens".

Owners do not have the right to stop supplies, it said, and "inspection committees will identify all stations that contravene instructions."

Those that have shut their pumps face having their licenses suspended and supplies of oil stopped, the statement said.

Moreover, officials at the Oil Ministry have accused owners of gas stations of smuggling oil to Kurdistan and outside the country. Fuel is sold at a higher price in Kurdistan.

General Manage of the Oil Products Distribution Company, Ihsan Moussa, blamed the owners for sparking the crisis because of their failure to apply the law.

The stations that shut are now accused of smuggling oil, he added, saying they have been caught in the act.

He noted that oil has been smuggled to Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon.

This is not a real fuel crisis, but one that has been caused by illegal activity, he remarked.

Seven million liters of fuel are being smuggled every day, out of a total of 30 million that is produced daily, he revealed.

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.