People push their cars due to a lack of fuel near a gas station in Dora, in Beirut’s eastern suburbs, on Tuesday. Lebanon is experiencing countrywide fuel shortages as the central bank ends costly subsidies. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
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All of the protesters who were detained in relation to the storming of Akkar MP Tarek Merhebi’s residence in the fallout from this weekend’s explosion have been released. The explosion of a gas tanker in the village of Tleil killed at least 34 people and injured scores of others, who were on the scene to receive petrol that had been confiscated from smugglers and was being distributed by the Lebanese Army. The incident was seen as the culmination of the political class’ mismanagement of the fuel sector, and protesters had broken into Merhebi’s house later that day. They were later accused of having stolen $13,000, several bank cards, a hard drive and other valuables. Merhebi filed a lawsuit against them, but he dropped it yesterday, hours after demonstrators gathered outside the Internal Security Forces’ headquarters in Beirut.
Gunfire erupted and a gas station was partially lit on fire in Beirut’s southern suburbs during what appears to have been a dispute over gasoline. Several people were injured during the incident, the NNA said. Reports are conflicting as to how the event unfolded. A security source told Reuters that the station had caught fire after gunmen had shot at soldiers who had detained a man trying to fill his car by force and a rocket-propelled grenade was launched at the station. AFP cited a security source who said people who had illegally hoarded gas at the pumping station had fired live rounds as soldiers tried to confiscate it. The AFP source said the people had also started a fire at the station, accusing the owner of having notified the army. A man claiming to be a relative of those involved in the incident told L’Orient Today that his cousin, a soldier, had asked another soldier at the gas station to give him priority in filling his tank, which led to the fight. Escalations at petrol stations have become increasingly common as desperation to access fuel grows.
Électricité de Zahlé announced that it is now powering the surrounding area for only 12 hours a day due to diesel shortages. EDZ was once lauded as a rare success story in Lebanon’s failing electricity sector, providing residents of Zahle and 16 surrounding villages with round-the-clock power and preventing them from having to rely on private generators. But like other institutions nationwide, which are buckling under the electricity crisis, EDZ is falling prey to shortages of diesel and power from the national grid, on which its model relies. Parliament is set to meet on Friday to discuss “appropriate action” on the fuel shortages, which in recent weeks have been crippling not only the electricity but also the health and telecom sectors.
Two ships carrying 80 million liters of diesel have arrived to Lebanon. According to Reuters, central bank Gov. Riad Salameh said the shipments were preapproved in July, and so would be subsidized at the rate of LL3,900 to the US dollar. A third shipment was rejected, pending the establishment of a new exchange rate by Banque du Liban, Salameh reportedly said. Barring major developments, the delivery may be the last fully subsidized fuel shipment to arrive in Lebanon, after BDL announced that it would no longer subsidize gas or diesel, which it said will now have to be paid for at the market exchange rate — currently around LL18,500 to the dollar. The decision, which could cause the cost of fuel to skyrocket by as much as five times, is certain to put fuel out of reach for many Lebanese. As the subsidies come to an inglorious end, a $556 million ration card program designed as a cost-effective alternative to the subsidy system has yet to take off, and analysts say it may be weeks or months before the government begins doling out assistance to vulnerable Lebanese.