Steamboat Al-Zahrani: Lebanon Stealing Syrian Gasoline?

Last September, a ship from Greece entered Lebanese territorial waters and stopped in front of the Zahrani oil facilities. Soon, the intelligence of the Lebanese army commercialized news indicating that the ship was loaded with prohibited materials, based on an “anonymous” information book. The vessel was searched and found to be loaded with benzene. The investigation with the ship’s crew revealed that it came from Greece, and that it was loaded with a quantity of gasoline purchased from the European country. At the same time, a security “machine” began spreading rumors that the ship was loaded with gasoline from the Zahrani facilities, and that this gasoline was subsidized by the Banque du Liban, intended to be smuggled into Syria. The machine raised the name of a Lebanese company, which the oil cartel is targeting with rumors, because it deals with Russian companies. The machine spread these rumors to the point that trying to verify them with various sources it used to put them in the category of “confirmed information”. But they were just rumors.

The investigation carried out by Army Intelligence (it is not known according to which legal text has been moved in a case that is of maximum customs) and the Public Ministry of Appeals in the south reached the identification of the owners of the gasoline shipment, its destination and your route. The gasoline was bought from Greece, paid for, and has nothing to do with Lebanese subsidy funds. The ship’s crew wanted to circumvent the sanctions of the United States Caesar Law and informed the Greeks that their destination was Lebanon. And it had the intention of the Lebanese territorial waters, so that the monitoring sites would record the “entry movement” in “Bahr Al-Zahrani”. He intended, after spending a short time off the southern coast, to turn off geolocation devices and head north towards the Syrian coast, but was arrested.
The dilemma today is that the leadership of the Army has decorated itself that it is capable of confiscating the ship and its cargo, based on Decree No. 6338 issued on May 15, 2020, and published in the Official Gazette on May 21 , under the title “Confiscate all supplies and all types of fuel and in general all materials supported by The Public Treasury, which is taken from Lebanon.” The title of the decree is clear. It gives the authorities the right to confiscate materials subsidized with public funds that are intended to be smuggled out of Lebanon, for the damage this would cause to the national economy and the assets of the Central Bank. So how will the Al-Zahrani ship and its cargo be seized? The text of the decree speaks of the confiscation of “all materials that are brought illegally into or out of Lebanon”, and “automobiles and vehicles used for this purpose are also confiscated.”
According to sources concerned about the investigation, the army command decided to confiscate the gasoline, not the ship, arguing that the confiscation of the ship would be considered an exaggeration, according to official sources. The Army Command relies on the text of the decree, unaware that it was issued to combat smuggling operations that drain the public treasury, as mentioned in its “address” in the Official Gazette. It was issued by the Council of Ministers as part of the measures against smuggling during the period of general mobilization for the Coronavirus pandemic. And there is no law in it that allows the seizure of gasoline from the steamship Zahrani, unless it is decided to circumvent its text and its interpretation as desired by Washington, which punishes the Syrian people by depriving them of importing what they need.
The second dilemma is that none of the political forces dares to raise this file for two reasons: the first is the fear of being accused of subjecting Lebanon to the penalties of the Caesar Law, and the second is that the person involved in the process confiscation is nothing more than the leadership of the army, which is “untouchable.”
Faced with this reality, Lebanon is being included, against its will, in the circle of countries participating in the siege of Syria. Here things must be said clearly: Syrians have the right to do everything in their power to circumvent the Caesar Law and other unjust sanctions decisions. Participating in stealing what they buy with what little money they have left is a crime against them and a declaration of aggression against them. Lebanon is not obligated to put up with what it cannot afford. All that is intended is not to be a partner in the aggression against Syria.
This issue needs the urgent intervention of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun. As in Naqoura, where it is not allowed to turn technical negotiations into political negotiations that the enemy wants to exploit to approve the normalization agenda, and Washington intends to turn it into a gateway to a political path, in Zahrani it is inadmissible to use technical “suspicion” to steal the scarce resources of the Syrian people, based on orders from the United States. Each of the two sins brings indelible shame.

Subscribe to «News» on YouTube here