The tangled diplomacy of Lebanon’s energy crisis

THE CELEBRATIONS seemed fit for a conquering hero returning home. As the trucks crossed the border, women showered them with flower petals and rice. Banners hailed the mastermind of the operation for “breaking the siege” imposed on his country by malevolent foreign powers. A few men fired bullets and rocket-propelled grenades in the air—a particularly ill-advised form of salute given that the trucks were carrying 4m litres of diesel.It says much about today’s Lebanon that a few petrol-tankers were greeted with such jubilation. The fuel is meant to ease an energy crisis that has paralysed the country. But 4m litres is less than a day’s consumption. Moreover, it will exacerbate the long political crisis in Lebanon. The shipment, arranged by Hizbullah, a Shia political party and militia, came from Iran to the port of Baniyas in Syria (see map), where it was transferred to trucks. It violates a range of American sanctions on Iran, Syria and Hizbullah itself. America, in turn, has put forward its own plan to keep the lights on in Lebanon—yet that proposal, ironically, will also fall foul of American sanctions on Syria.