Israel To Send Natural Gas to Lebanon via Indirect Channels To Relieve Crisis
Israel will send natural gas to Lebanon through indirect channels to help aid the country’s serious power shortage caused by a severe economic crisis. The secret deal was signed over the weekend, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported. The gas would travel from the Leviathan field to Jordan, then be transferred to Syria and from there to Lebanon.
The deal, brokered by US Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, was approved by the United States, exempting the transfer of the natural gas from the sanctions it has imposed on the Assad regime. The deal also was coordinated with Russia, according to the report.
The deal appears to be an attempt to lessen Lebanon’s reliance on Iran. Iran reportedly has sent several oil tankers to Syria, where the contents were offloaded and transported overland to Hizbullah in Syria. Hizbullah reportedly said that it would “donate” part of the fuel to government hospitals and residential care homes and will sell the rest through “a private company” to the private sector, and make a lot of money by doing so.
