Lebanon still in darkness

Lebanon is going through one of its most serious crises. In the electricity sector, reserves are at an all-time low. Fuel, which is needed to run the power plants, remains in very short supply, leaving the population mostly dependent on private power plants, and even these cannot guarantee a sufficient supply. 

Over the weekend, Lebanon suffered two major general power outages after two major power plants stopped operating after running out of fuel, the official Electricity Company announced. The army had to intervene to restore power to the population. In their action, the officers released a certain amount of diesel fuel to undermine the electrical vacuum and try to partially reactivate the power plants. However, this fuel is only enough to keep the plants running for three days. 

Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad thanked Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Defence Commander Joseph Aun for their "quick response to reconnect the power grid" after handing over 6,000 kilolitres of diesel fuel to the Lebanese Army Reserve's Deir Ammar and Al-Zahrani laboratories.

Lebanon is experiencing one of the world's worst economic crises. For months, the country has experienced multiple difficulties in providing and managing the quantities of fuel needed for electricity production plants to function properly. In important parts of the country, the official facility, which supplies 1 hour of electricity, is scarce and barely manages to provide electricity. Also, the fuel reserves needed by private electricity generators are running low.
 

In an attempt to try to supply the country with electricity, the Shiite group Hezbollah, considered a terrorist group by the United States, has made a series of agreements with Iran to supply Lebanon with fuel by truck, despite the sanctions imposed by Washington.

With the new power outages, the aid provided by Iran has proven to be insufficient. According to Lebanese politicians, the demonstration of Iranian fuel trucks on the streets was seen as a way to promote and justify Iran's role in Lebanon, as well as to prepare the ground for the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian in Beirut.

The trucks from Tehran began arriving in the country in the middle of last month, a development that was not without criticism from opposition politicians who believe that the arrival of this fuel will only further entrench Iran's influence in Lebanon and expose the country to the target of international sanctions.

In this context, Lebanon has reached a series of agreements to import electricity from Jordan and gas from Egypt via Syria. At the same time, the government signed an agreement with Iraq to receive quantities of fuel oil. In parallel, the Hezbollah faction imported fuel oil from Iran.

In response, the Manorite patriarch, Bechara Boutros Rai, warned that 'Iranian aid' received by Lebanon was a move by the Shiite country to maintain 'hegemony in the country'. In his Sunday sermon, the patriarch said Lebanon "must preserve the country's independence, sovereignty and its natural relationship, so any aid as a cover will not serve to dominate Lebanon and undermine its identity and its peaceful role". 

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian promised during his arrival in Lebanon to build two new factories to produce electricity. However, the country's political forces are sceptical as "Iran suffers from various internal problems" especially "in the area of providing services to Iranians themselves". 

In this respect, reform of the electricity system is one of the most important issues to be tackled by the new interim government, headed by Najib Makiti, appointed last September after 13 months without a government. In a new move, the Lebanese Energy Ministry said it had obtained approval from the Central Bank of Lebanon to seek $100 million in tenders to import the fuel to be used to generate electricity.

The international community is calling on Lebanon to carry out a comprehensive reform of the electricity sector, which is reportedly generating large losses for the state treasury. These expenditures have cost the treasury more than $400 billion since the end of the country's civil war between 1975 and 1990.