Motorists wait to refuel in North Lebanon on Saturday. (Credit: Michel Hallak)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun convened a meeting at Baabda on Saturday afternoon to address the ongoing fuel crisis in the country following another day of nationwide roadblocks to protest the shortages as hourslong queues for fuel persisted at the handful of gas stations still open. Meanwhile, the gas station owners’ syndicate denounced the “unbearable pressure” they are under as fuel stocks run out and desperate motorists wait to fill up.
Here’s what we know:
• President Michel Aoun convened a meeting Saturday afternoon to discuss the fuel crisis. Caretaker Premier Hassan Diab, caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, BDL Gov. Riad Salameh and caretaker Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar were in attendance, the state-run National News Agency reported. The meeting followed a day of roadblocks and lengthy lines at fuel pumps across the country.
• In the south, protesters on Saturday morning cut the road to Zahrani with burning tires, causing huge traffic jams, while in the afternoon, demonstrators cut the highway at Jiyyeh, south of Beirut. In Saida, a man, angry and desperate to find gasoline, spilled a flammable liquid on a road and set it on fire to cut off traffic, our sister publication L’Orient-Le Jour reported. Meanwhile, the NNA reported that truck owners unable to obtain gas blocked the highway to Beirut at Najjarieh, near Sur, and that a gas station owner and his son were hospitalized after a quarrel broke out at their station in Deir Zahrani, Nabatieh.
• In the north, L’Orient-Le Jour reported that young people intercepted a diesel truck in Kfar Melki and distributed its contents to several generator owners. The youths reportedly paid the driver of the vehicle for the diesel. Roads were also cut in the north, according to L’Orient-Le Jour, including at Tripoli’s al-Nour Square, on the highway at the Palma resort, at the Abou Ali roundabout and at the Mina roundabout.
• In the Bekaa, demonstrators blocked the Mallaka to Zahle road using dumpsters to protest the shortage.
• Meanwhile, the gas station owners’ syndicate issued a statement on Saturday saying “the daily pressure we are under to meet the needs of the market has become unbearable,” as they called on motorists “to have patience” during “this crisis which affects us all.” The syndicate also called on the security forces to increase their numbers at open gas stations to “protect citizens and the people who work there.”
• In a statement, General Security claimed to have dispatched several patrols across Lebanese territory as part of the fight against the hoarding of gasoline and diesel. These patrols forced gas stations that had closed their doors to open and refuel motorists.
• The Internal Security Forces also issued a statement claiming to have stepped up their patrols to combat smuggling and fuel storage.
• Banque du Liban announced on Aug. 11 that it could no longer subsidize fuel imports at the current rate of LL3,900 to the dollar. Removing subsidies would raise fuel prices by more than 300 percent. Until a decision is finalized on ending subsidies and the pricing of fuel, importers are obliged to sell fuel stocks already in the country at the LL3,900 rate.