In 2021, Iran sent five fuel tankers, all under the flag of Iran, to Lebanon. Since the financial crisis of Lebanon in August 2019, the country is experiencing a chronic shortage of fuel. The tankers were loaded from Iranian ports, after reaching the Syrian port, be trucked to Lebanon. Shipment delivery was made for Hezbullah. [1] [2] [3]
In August 2019, due to various financial problems, the black market exchange rate began to change from the official exchange rate. [4] [5] The USD black market exchange rate remains to fluctuate substantially due to the devaluation of the Lebanese pound caused by sharp USD shortages within Lebanon. [6] The Lebanese pound has lost about 90% of its value. [7] The Guardian reported: the resulting hyperinflation, made by adverse trading situations during the COVID-19 pandemic, grossly irresponsible financial mismanagement of Lebanon's politicians and bankers, has caused subsidies of essential foodstuffs, medicine, and fuel to no longer cover their true cost. Fuel shortages have made extensive electricity cuts and led to long lines at filling stations. The World Bank has declared one of the world's worst economic crises since the mid-1800s. [8]
On 19 August 2021, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah announced on televised speech Iranian fuel will sail from Iran toward Lebanon "within hours". [9] Before, Nasrallah claimed: Tehran has accepted to trade with Lebanon using the Lebanese pound. On 2 September, the first Iranian ship arrive at Syria's Mediterranean port in Baniyas. [10] On 13 September, Nasrallah said: the first Iranian fuel ship has reached Syria for land transfer. Then, the fuel shipment was transported by tanker trucks via Syria to the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek. It would arrive in Lebanon by 16 September. On 24 September, Nasrallah claimed that a second Iranian fuel vessel has arrived in the Syrian port, [11] also a third and a fourth fuel vessel sails towards Lebanon. They respectively carrying gasoline and fuel oil. [12]
Nasrallah claimed in his speech: at the first, the fuel will be donated to institutions like orphanages, public hospitals, water stations, nursing homes, and the Lebanese Red Cross for one month. [13]
Nasrallah claimed: the cost of the fuel were paid by Lebanese Shia businessmen. [14]
Nasrallah said: our aim is not to trade or profit but also our aim is to alleviate the suffering of the people. [15] He warned the Zionist regime and the U.S. against intercepting Iranian fuel vessels since as they are considered Lebanese territory. [16]
On 1 September 2021, the energy minister of Lebanon, Raymond Ghajar said: the Lebanese government has not received any request to import fuel from Iran. [17]
Hussein Hajj Hassan and Ali Hamieh New Public Works & Transport Minister of Lebanon, claimed The US Blockade on Lebanon is broken. [18]
Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati said in CNN interview, The Lebanese government has not intervened in the operation. He called the operation a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. [19]
According to The New York Times and the BBC, the Lebanese people celebrated the arrival of the first fuel trucks. they thanked Iran, Hezbollah, and Bashar al-Assad while carrying their flags. [15] [20]
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, current foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said: we will supply the Lebanese government's need for fuel and will help them to resolve the problems faced due to the fuel shortage. Previously, he said Iran had sold fuel to a "Lebanese businessmen". [21] [22]
Amnon Shefler, Israeli military spokesman, claimed: This is Iran's attempt to export its revolution and promote its agents. [16]
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led since 1992 by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength is assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army.
Hassan Nasrallah is a Lebanese cleric and the secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militant group.
This is a timeline of events related to the 2006 Lebanon War.
Hezbollah has a military branch and is the sponsor of a number of lesser-known groups, some of which may be little more than fronts for Hezbollah itself. These groups include the Organization of the Oppressed, the Revolutionary Justice Organization, the Organization of Right Against Wrong, and Followers of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hezbollah has a Foreign Relations Unit and maintains relations with a number of foreign countries and entities. These are particularly Shia states, but also Sunni groups like those affiliated with the Palestinian cause; and the group is also suggested to have operations outside the Middle East in places such as Latin America and North Korea.
The 2006–2008 Lebanese protests were a series of political protests and sit-ins in Lebanon that began on 1 December 2006, led by groups that opposed the US and Saudi-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and ended on 21 May 2008 with the signing of the Doha Agreement. The opposition was made up of Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM); a number of smaller parties were also involved, including the Marada party, the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. A majority of the members of the government were part of the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance, a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon. The two groups were also divided along religious lines, with most Sunnis and Druze supporting the government, and most Shi'a supporting the opposition. The Christian community was split between the two factions, with Michel Aoun, the leader of the FPM, claiming to have more than 70% support among the Christians, based on the results of the 2005 parliamentary election.
The funding of Hezbollah comes from Lebanese business groups, private persons, businessmen, the Lebanese diaspora involved in African diamond exploration, other Islamic groups and countries, and the taxes paid by the Shia Lebanese. Hezbollah says that the main source of its income comes from its own investment portfolios and donations by Muslims.
Between 2011 and 2017, fighting from the Syrian civil war spilled over into Lebanon as opponents and supporters of the Syrian Arab Republic traveled to Lebanon to fight and attack each other on Lebanese soil. The Syrian conflict stoked a resurgence of sectarian violence in Lebanon, with many of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims supporting the rebels in Syria, while many of Lebanon's Shi'a Muslims supporting the Ba'athist government of Bashar Al-Assad, whose Alawite minority is usually described as a heterodox offshoot of Shi'ism. Killings, unrest and sectarian kidnappings across Lebanon resulted.
The Axis of Resistance is an informal Iranian-led political and military coalition in West Asia and North Africa. It most notably includes the Syrian government, the Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah, the Yemeni political and military organization Ansar Allah, and a variety of Palestinian militant groups.
Mustafa Badreddine, also known as Mustafa Badr Al Din, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Mustafa Youssef Badreddine, Sami Issa, and Elias Fouad Saab, was a military leader of Hezbollah and both the cousin and brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyah. He was nicknamed Dhu al-Fiqar referring to the legendary sword of Imam Ali. His death is seen as one of the biggest blows in the Hezbollah leadership.
The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, also known as the Iran–Israel proxy war or Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy conflict between Iran and Israel. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2018 Israeli forces directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria.
The following lists some remarkable events that happened in 2014 in Lebanon on a monthly basis.
The January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident was an airstrike against a two-car convoy that killed six Hezbollah fighters, including two prominent commanders, and a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, at al-Amal Farms in the Quneitra District of Syria, in the Eastern Golan Heights, on 18 January 2015, during the Syrian Civil War. The attack was largely attributed to Israel, which did not officially confirm that it carried it out. Hezbollah and IRGC held Israel responsible and threatened to retaliate. On 19 January 2015, Al-Nusra Front member Abu Azzam al-Idlibi claimed that Jihad Mughniyeh and the other Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Al-Nusra Front ambush at Jaroud in the Qalamoun Mountains in the Al-Qutayfah District northeast of Damascus, claiming that it "will be the end of the Persian project, God willing."
Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War has been substantial since the beginning of armed insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, and evolved into active support for Ba'athist government forces and troop deployment from 2012 onwards. By 2014, Hezbollah was deployed across Syria. Hezbollah has also been very active in preventing Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State penetration into Lebanon, being one of the most active forces in the Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon.
On 12 November 2015, two suicide bombers detonated explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, that is inhabited mostly by Shia Muslims. Reports of the number of fatalities concluded that 43 people died directly from the detonation. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
In 2017, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri abruptly announced his resignation while he was in Saudi Arabia on 4 November 2017. Shortly thereafter, the foreign relations between both countries and allied regional neighbors became increasingly strained. On 6 November, Saudi Arabia claimed Lebanon declared war between the two states, despite leaders of Lebanon stating otherwise. On 9 November, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates asked their citizens to leave Lebanon. The conflict is thought to be part of the larger Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict.
The Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war refers to the Iranian–Israeli standoff in and around Syria during the Syrian conflict. With increasing Iranian involvement in Syria from 2011 onwards, the conflict shifted from a proxy war into a direct confrontation by early 2018.
The 17 October Protests, commonly referred to as the 17 October Revolution or as Hirak were a series of civil protests in Lebanon that began after the Lebanese cabinet announced financial measures on 17 October 2019. These national protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications such as WhatsApp, but quickly expanding into a country-wide condemnation of sectarian rule, the stagnation of the economy, unemployment, endemic corruption in the public sector, legislation that was perceived to shield the ruling class from accountability and failures of the government to provide basic services such as electricity, water, and sanitation.
The Lebanese liquidity crisis is an ongoing financial crisis affecting Lebanon, that became fully apparent in August 2019, and was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon, the 2020 Beirut port explosion and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The country experienced liquidity shortages in the years prior to 2019 but the full extent of the fragility of the economy were concealed through financial engineering by the governor of the central bank. Lebanon's crisis was worsened by United States sanctions targeting Syria's government and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The 2021 Beirut clashes, also known as the 2021 Beirut massacre, Tayouneh Incident or Mini May 7, occurred in the Tayouneh neighborhood of the Lebanese capital of Beirut on 14 October 2021 between Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, and unidentified gunmen allegedly associated with the Lebanese Forces, and the Lebanese Armed Forces, resulting in the death of seven people and injury of 32 others, and the arrest of nine by the Lebanese Armed Forces. The violence erupted during a protest organized by Hezbollah and its allies against Tarek Bitar, the lead judge probing the 2020 explosion in the city's port, as they accuse him of being partisan. The clashes took place at the Justice Palace, located in Eastern Beirut along the former civil war front line between the Christian and Muslim Shiite areas. The clashes were the worst in the country since the 2008 Lebanon conflict.
| Africa |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | ||
| Asia |
| |
| Europe | ||
| Oceania | ||
| Former | ||
| Multilateral relations | ||
| Disputes | ||
| Related | ||
| Africa |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | ||
| Asia | ||
| Europe | ||
| Former | ||
| Multilateral relations | ||
| Diplomatic missions | ||
| Related | ||
