An employee of an al-Amana gas station. (Photo taken from the al-Amana website)
The lease contract for the gas station company affiliated with Hezbollah, al-Amana, in Tahwitat al-Ghadir — a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs adjacent to the airport — was terminated Saturday by its owner, following an Israeli warning strike carried out the previous evening, the municipality announced in a statement.
"Based on information regarding the warning strike carried out by the Israeli air force on Friday night against the al-Amana station, the owner of the property contacted one of the officials of the al-Amana company. Both parties agreed to immediately terminate and end the lease contract," reported the municipality of Mreijeh, Tahwitat al-Ghadir, and Laylaki. "As a result, all equipment and assets belonging to this company have been removed and evacuated, and the station is now under the direct responsibility of the property owner, with no connection to the said company," the municipality further clarified. "It should be noted that the station was operated by this company before it was acquired by the current owner," it added.
Al-Amana gas stations have been targeted by the Israeli army since Hezbollah entered the regional war on March 2. They have been under U.S. sanctions since February 2020. In 2021, at the height of the economic crisis and fuel shortages, al-Amana announced it would sell discounted Iranian fuel supplied by Hezbollah.
The Israeli military has recently acknowledged that it is deliberately targeting these gas stations, in order to undermine "the income and mobility" of Hezbollah.
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