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The General Directorate of Petroleum – Department of Petroleum Installations of the Ministry of Energy in Lebanon said in a statement that “on September 25 last, a ship loaded with about 4 million liters of benzene (2,750 tons) from Greece entered the waters Lebanese territory to Zahrani facilities In southern Lebanon, their identity is unknown. “
The General Directorate of Petroleum indicated that it has not been verified that it has been submitted at the request of any official entity or any private company, explaining that the importation of petroleum derivatives for the benefit of the facilities is based on the bids carried out by a specialized committee with official mandate in accordance with the regulations.
Control of the ship’s file was handed over to the Southern Prosecutor, Judge Rahaif Ramadan, after his arrest, who began to investigate the shipping agent to summon him and hear from him the conditions of arrival of the ship, which he suspected was prepared to violate the sanctions imposed on the Syrian government.
In a related context, official Lebanese sources revealed to Al Arabiya Network that it is “the second time the ship has arrived in Lebanon in less than six months. The first time was last June, when it arrived from Greece and when it entered territorial waters. Lebanese, the GPS device was off. ” “Their movement is not monitored by satellites, and they went directly to the port of Banias in Syria, where they unloaded their fuel loads.”
The sources of information that circulate confirmed that “the shipment on board the ship” Jaguar S “belongs to the Syrian company” Al-Naam “, and its headquarters are in Harasta in Damascus, and the name of the company appears in the manifest of the ship.
The sources indicated that “the ship’s maritime agent stated that it arrived in Lebanon for the benefit of the fuel company” HIF “, which has fuel tanks near the Zahrani facilities, but the company denied having knowledge of the ship and that it had a shipment of gasoline.
And the press information indicated that “the customs administration and when verifying the manifest, the bill of lading, the knowledge and the news presented by the shipping agent showed that there was no importing company of the merchandise on board, and the importing companies of oil also disavowed them. “
Furthermore, official Lebanese sources revealed that “the ship was coming from Azerbaijan while operating on a line between Turkey and Albania, and it appeared that it wanted to unload its cargo at the Zahrani facilities, in preparation for transporting it in sections through tankers to Syria and across of illegal crossings “.
According to official sources, after completing the investigations, the Lebanese judiciary is on the way to issuing a decision to seize the ship and its cargo at sea in preparation for returning it to Greece, where it left with security support, in a measure aimed at removing the Lebanon from the guillotine of Caesar Law sanctions that prevents it from dealing with the Syrian government.
The United States imposed “Caesar” sanctions on the Damascus government in mid-June this year, with the aim of stopping human rights violations committed by the Damascus government. These sanctions stipulate a freeze on aid for reconstruction and impose sanctions on the government and companies that cooperate with it, in addition to targeting Iranian and Russian entities.
(J m)
