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ELECTRICITY CRISIS

Geagea calls on government to approve Nasrallah's proposal to import Iranian fuel and see what happens


Geagea calls on government to approve Nasrallah's proposal to import Iranian fuel and see what happens

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. (Screenshot from live broadcast)

BEIRUT — Lebanese Forces’ leader Samir Geagea took to Twitter on Wednesday to call on the caretaker cabinet to call Hezbollah’s bluff and approve its leader’s proposal to import “free” imports of Iranian fuel and deliver it to Lebanon’s power plants.

Here’s what we know:

    • Replying to head of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil’s statement in an interview with Al-Manar on Friday, in which he asked the Iranians to give Lebanon fuel for free, Hezbollah’s head Hassan Nasrallah on Monday said that he is “ready to bring fuel from Iran for free that would increase [state] electricity up to 10 hours a day” But, he added, “the government has to approve” such a move.

    • Geagea tweeted Wednesday that “the government should accept Nasrallah’s offer of free donations of Iranian fuel,” contending that he is “not saying this because [he] believe[s] this will happen, but because the Lebanese people should not be left to unfounded rumors.”

    • Geagea also said that “everyone remembers what happened with the fuel” procured by Hezbollah in 2021 from Iran — “it was eventually only two or three ships.” Geagea continued saying that “these shipments were paid for with the exception of a few donations to associations, similar to donations offered by any charity.”

    • On Sept. 16, 2021, trucks filled with diesel fuel from Iran began entering Lebanon through Syria as part of Hezbollah initiative. At the time, the country was at the peak of its acute fuel shortages. The fuel, part of which was donated, was mostly sold in Lebanon at below-market prices. Nasrallah had announced that three diesel ships and one gasoline ship would arrive from Iran last year, but the gasoline ship anever set sail to Lebanon. 

BEIRUT — Lebanese Forces’ leader Samir Geagea took to Twitter on Wednesday to call on the caretaker cabinet to call Hezbollah’s bluff and approve its leader’s proposal to import “free” imports of Iranian fuel and deliver it to Lebanon’s power plants.Here’s what we know:    • Replying to head of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil’s statement in an interview...