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People at a gas pump in Beirut (photo from August 31st): great demand, but hardly any fuel
Photo: Hassan Ammar / AP
The supply situation in Lebanon is getting worse and worse.
In the capital Beirut and the surrounding area on Thursday, as in the past few days and weeks, long queues formed at the petrol stations that were still open.
Some wait in line for hours before they turn off again with empty tanks and canisters due to the lack of petrol.
Because of the acute shortage of fuel, the United Nations want to support the small country on the Mediterranean with an additional ten million dollars.
This is to keep hospitals and waterworks that generate their electricity with the help of generators running, said the UN emergency aid office Ocha.
More than 60 hospitals would be helped in this way.
The state energy network only supplies electricity for one to two hours a day.
Most Lebanese therefore have to do without it for a long time every day.
According to Ocha, Lebanon needs aid totaling 378 million dollars in the current year to provide humanitarian aid to around 1.9 million people.
The other 10 million dollars could supply the country with fuel for a week or two at the most, said energy expert Marc Ayoub from the American University of Beirut (AUB).
According to Hezbollah, Iran also wants to deliver oil to Lebanon during the fuel crisis - despite international sanctions.
Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, had announced the arrival of several tankers with diesel oil on board.
He warned the United States and Israel against targeting the ship.
On Thursday, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar newspaper reported that one of the tankers had reached Syrian waters.
mic / dpa-afx
