Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters cheered and fired guns into the air on Thursday as tankers carrying US-sanctioned Iranian fuel oil arrived in Baalbeck, a stronghold for the group in Lebanon, where petrol is scarce.
Women dressed in long black robes waved Hezbollah flags and threw rose petals and rice at the convoy of fuel tankers travelling from neighbouring Syria where the Iranian shipment docked.
While Hezbollah says the arrival of the fuel will ease Lebanon's crippling energy crisis, fuel importers previously told The National the shipment will last only three days.
Supporters of Iran and its allies in Lebanon celebrated the arrival of the tankers as a victory, but the US-sanctioned product may put Lebanon at risk and bring the small country closer to Iran’s orbit.
“We are here to celebrate a new victory,” said Hawra, a young woman in a chador carrying a basket of rose petals on her arm.
“These flowers are for the glorious convoy.”
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said that four ships carrying petrol from Iran were headed to Beirut via Baniyas.
He said a second ship with fuel oil would arrive at the Syrian port in a few days.
The first convoy will involve between 70 and 80 tankers with a total of three million litres of diesel, according to a Hezbollah statement.
Oil shipment analysts TankerTrackers.com had previously said 792 oil tankers would be needed to deliver the Iranian gasoil to Lebanon from Baniyas.
Located in the Bekaa Valley, in north-east Lebanon, Baalbeck is renowned for being the country’s drug capital and a stronghold for Hezbollah.
The group had planned celebrations and a procession to mark the occasion, with English banners adorning Baalbeck’s main entrance - a rare sight. Celebrations were officially cancelled at the last minute, but supporters gathered at the pre-arranged spot and time.
Despite the fanfare, experts say the fuel oil is not a solution to the crisis.
We are here to celebrate a new victory
Hawra,
Baalbeck resident
The sanctioned fuel oil on the first ship can cover Lebanon’s needs for only three days, fuel importers and private generator owners previously told The National.
At the entrance of the city, a large banner with Mr Nasrallah’s face plastered in the corner reads in English: “You broke their siege.”
The group says Lebanon’s economic collapse, caused by decades of corruption and mismanagement, is the result of an American siege. Hezbollah and its ally, the Syrian regime, are under US sanctions but Lebanon is not.
Bachar Al Halabi, MENA research analyst at Clipper Data, says the decision to bring fuel to Lebanon is "mostly about optics."
"They created a narrative that Lebanon is under siege, and that they broke that siege. None of that is true."
The Iranian shipment docked in Baniyas, Syria, earlier this week, with tankers ferrying the petrol by land, sparing Lebanese authorities the dilemma of accepting the shipment and risking US sanctions or refusing it and risking Hezbollah reprisals.
Information Minister George Kordahi said on Thursday after a Cabinet meeting that ministers did not discuss the issue of Iranian fuel entering Lebanon.
"I cannot say the government's position as long as we have not discussed the issue yet," he told the press.
After two years of economic collapse, Lebanon’s central bank is low on foreign currencies needed to import subsidised goods such as petrol and medicine, causing shortages. Lebanon relies on petrol to generate electricity. Shortages have caused power cuts lasting for up to 24 hours and hindering the work of hospitals.
Hezbollah said the fuel will be dispersed to civil defence, hospitals, homes for the elderly, orphanages, official water institutions, fire brigades in the Civil Defence, and the Lebanese Red Cross.
The fuel oil will also be distributed to Al Amanah fuel stations, where it will be sold to the public.
Homemaker Zahraa Zeaiter said she is just happy to have fuel oil.
“People are in need of everything, so when we heard there was help coming, of course I wanted to come here and celebrate,” she said. Baalbeck has been marginalised for years, she said.
Bringing scarce fuel oil to the country scored points for Hezbollah at a time when its constituents are suffering from shortages – and some protesters blame the group for exacerbating the country’s economic crisis.
Mr Al Halabi said importing fuel from Iran was a way for the armed group to claim victory without engaging in warfare.
"This is the biggest victory they can claim without paying a real cost."
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Company%20profile
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Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier
Sunday's results:
- UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
- Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
- Oman v Hong Kong, no result
Tuesday fixtures:
- Malaysia v Singapore
- UAE v Oman
- Nepal v Hong Kong
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
