Iran fuel shipment to Lebanon 'will only last days,' say experts


Sunniva Rose
  • English
  • Arabic

The 33,000 metric tonnes of Iranian fuel oil reported by a maritime monitoring group to be bound for Lebanon will only cover around three days of the country’s needs, Lebanese fuel importers and private generator owners told The National on Wednesday.

Two Iranian ships are reportedly on their way to Lebanon following a controversial deal struck by Lebanese Iran-backed group Hezbollah via Lebanese Shiite businessmen and Iran.

Lebanon is suffering from crippling fuel shortages that have caused the near-collapse of its electricity sector.

The Faxon tanker, which is carrying 33,000 metric tonnes of gasoil, a light fuel oil used specifically in generators, was expected to reach the Suez Canal on Tuesday evening. The canal requires ships to turn on their automatic tracking systems (ATS) so they will be visible.

But Faxon's ATS remains off for reasons that are unclear, meaning her exact location is not yet public, said shipping monitoring group TankerTrackers.com, which uses satellite imagery to locate tankers across the globe.

Lebanon uses gasoil mostly for private generators run by a highly organised decade-old network of owners across the country.

State-run Electricite du Liban has never produced enough electricity to meet demand and generators kick in during power cuts. But in the past months, generator owners have been struggling to work as gasoil becomes scarce and state-powered electricity drops to an hour or two a day, causing blackouts across the country.

Both Abdo Saade, head of the union of generator owners, and George Fayad, the head of the association of petroleum importing companies, said Lebanon’s daily consumption of gasoil reaches 15 million litres a day. The Faxon’s load is equivalent to about 40 million litres of gasoil, said Mr Fayad, so “it is less than three days of consumption”.

A Hezbollah spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

This is above all a political decision, motivated by political considerations, including breaking the taboo of importing sanctioned Iranian products
Mona Sukkarieh,
political risk consultant and co-founder of Middle East Strategic Perspectives

It remains unclear whether the fuel, which is under US sanctions, will be unloaded in Lebanon or in neighbouring Syria and then brought by truck. The leader of the Iran-backed group, Hassan Nasrallah, has said previously that the fuel would be intended for hospitals and bakeries among others.

The group, which has bypassed the Lebanese government, also hinted at several shipments, and Samir Madani, co-founder and chief analyst at TankerTrackers.com, told The National a second Iranian ship is a week behind the Faxon.

“Given that this product is under sanctions, we can only speculate who the end user may be,” said Mona Sukkarieh, political risk consultant and co-founder of Middle East Strategic Perspectives. “Official Lebanese institutions have been very reserved so far in their public declarations and I doubt that they would run the risk of dealing with this product.”

The US has alluded that it may turn a blind eye to Lebanese hospitals that buy Iranian fuel.

“I don’t think anyone is going to fall on their sword if someone’s able to get fuel into hospitals that need it,” US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea told Al Arabiya English on August 19. “But I think the Lebanese people deserve importers of fuel to distribute it equitably. And I ask you, can you count on Hezbollah to do that?” said Ms Shea.

The US Department of State was not immediately available for comment on the latest shipment.

Importing Iranian fuel is ultimately a political move by Hezbollah, experts said.

“This is above all a political decision, motivated by political considerations, including breaking the taboo of importing sanctioned Iranian products and consolidating its status among its constituency as a reliable provider whenever the state fails to deliver services,” said Ms Sukkarieh.

“They are using the bad situation in the country to enforce the ties between Iran and Lebanon,” said Laury Haytayan, an oil and gas governance expert.

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)

Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm) 
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm) 
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm) 
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn  (4.30pm) 
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm) 
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)

Sunday, May 17

Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)

Monday, May 18

Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
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Fight Night

FIGHT NIGHT

Four title fights:

Amir Khan v Billy Dib - WBC International title
Hughie Fury v Samuel Peter - Heavyweight co-main event  
Dave Penalosa v Lerato Dlamini - WBC Silver title
Prince Patel v Michell Banquiz - IBO World title

Six undercard bouts:

Michael Hennessy Jr v Abdul Julaidan Fatah
Amandeep Singh v Shakhobidin Zoirov
Zuhayr Al Qahtani v Farhad Hazratzada
Lolito Sonsona v Isack Junior
Rodrigo Caraballo v Sajid Abid
Ali Kiydin v Hemi Ahio

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4,872 matches 

1,942 teams

116 pitches

76 nations

26 UAE teams

15 Lebanese teams

2 Kuwaiti teams

Scoreline:

Everton 4

Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', ​​​​​​​Digne 56', Walcott 64'

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)

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The UN General Assembly President in quotes:

YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”

PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”

OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”

REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Brief scores:

Southampton 2

Armstrong 13', Soares 20'

Manchester United 2

Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'

High profile Al Shabab attacks
  • 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
  • 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
  • 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
  • 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
  • 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
  • 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

  1. Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate. 
  2. Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc. 
  3. Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway. 
  4. Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
  5. Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Monster

Directed by: Anthony Mandler

Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington 

3/5

 

Winners

Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)

Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)

Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)

Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)

Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)

Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)

Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)

Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The story of Edge

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.

It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.

Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.

Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab

 

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Power: 727hp

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Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
  • Drones
  • Animals
  • Fireworks/ flares
  • Radios or power banks
  • Laser pointers
  • Glass
  • Selfie sticks/ umbrellas
  • Sharp objects
  • Political flags or banners
  • Bikes, skateboards or scooters
Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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Updated: September 12, 2021, 8:14 AM`