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Beirut, Lebanon- Earlier this month, when the first Hezbollah-brokered Iranian diesel fuel convoy arrived in Lebanon, it was met with mixed reactions.
While some people worry that Iranian-backed parties will use it to further maintain their dominance, others welcome this fuel as a temporary relief in a severe energy crisis. For the supporters of Hezbollah, this is a victory.
On September 16, the truck fleet Crossing the Syrian border Enter a country where funds are scarce and travel across the eastern provinces to Baalbek. Along the way, the municipalities associated with Hezbollah showed the leader of the Iran-backed organization Hassan Nasrallah and his trusted ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah · A banner with photos of Ali Khamenei.
Enthusiastic supporters of Hezbollah ignored Nasrallah’s orders not to gather near the truck. The women yelled like they did at a wedding, waved party flags, and threw rice and flowers at the truck. They raised their fists and shouted, “We obey your call, Nasrallah!”
At the same time, several men took out assault rifles and shot into the air to celebrate. Some even fire rocket grenade (RPG) bullets.
Supporters view this as a victorious resistance to US sanctions against Hezbollah and the Syrian government, which they say has led to the economic blockade of Lebanon.
Iranian fuel from Baniyas Port in Syria was transported to the warehouse of the Hezbollah-affiliated Amana Fuel Company approved by the United States.
Hezbollah provides some institutions in need (such as public hospitals, the Lebanese Red Cross, the Civil Defense Forces, and orphanages) with one month’s free fuel supply, while providing fuel to other institutions at a slightly cheaper price than on the black market.
More Iranian fuel will be shipped to Lebanon as part of four tankers. Tanker Trackers, an Iranian oil export monitoring agency, said that the cargo contains a total of 33,000 metric tons of oil and requires 792 trucks to deliver.
The severe power crisis that has deteriorated significantly in the past few months has caused long-term power outages in Lebanon. It is difficult for ordinary Lebanese to afford the soaring cost of private generators and hospitals. Barely functioning Because they work hard to get enough fuel.
At the time of the energy crisis, Lebanon fell into a quagmire of economic collapse, and almost three-quarters of the population fell into poverty. Since 2019, the currency has depreciated by about 90%.
Despite the “blockade,” the anger over the economic and energy crisis has grown to Lebanon’s ruling elite, which is composed of political parties representing the mosaic of Lebanese religious sects and cronies in the private sector.
As a close ally of President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berry, Hezbollah has not been spared this anger and resentment.
Analysts say that Hezbollah is trying to fill the gap left by this country with a shortage of funds in response to the growing condemnation of people who are fed up with financial mismanagement and corruption.
“The ruling elite-whether it is the ruling party or the central bank-let us get to where we are today, and then we have Hezbollah, and they use the situation to’rescue’,” Beirut’s founding director Sami Atra ( Sami Atallah) said. The think tank policy initiative told Al Jazeera.
“To their constituency, they are seen as heroes. They try to show that they can take matters into their own hands to ease their pain.”
But some institutions are more willing to accept this fuel than others.
‘Show resistance’
Jihad Chihmi, who is responsible for maintenance at the Rafic Hariri University Hospital operated by the Beirut government, told Al Jazeera that the hospital can only get electricity from the state for six hours a day and was forced to use generators to make up for the shortage. .
“We have enough diesel for the generator to run for a few days, depending on the length of the cut. But this is what we are working hard every day to ensure that there is nothing really stable,” he said.
The hospital relies heavily on donations of diesel fuel, but still rations its supply, sometimes turning off the air conditioner and opening the windows.
But the hospital has not yet decided whether to accept Hezbollah’s fuel donation.
Many people worry that accepting this fuel may lead to the consequences of violating sanctions, making them a beneficiary of the party and even losing the trust of their customers.
Chihimi declined to comment on this aspect of fuel transportation. A spokesperson for the hospital said that they have not contacted Amana to request a donation of fuel.
For others, the decision to accept fuel from a Hezbollah agent is simple.
“I said’khosh amadid’ [“welcome” in Farsi] Said Assaad Nakad, who runs Electricity du Zahle, a private energy utility company in eastern Lebanon.
Atala said that Hezbollah’s political sponsorship and client network has always been different from its political allies and rivals because it has “the most flexible sponsorship network.”
“All political parties have their vassals, but Hezbollah is more institutionalized than any other party,” he said.
During the economic crisis in Lebanon over the past two years, Hezbollah has further expanded its social welfare and economic support programs.
When the Lebanese Bank turned away depositors, Hezbollah’s supporters turned to the party’s financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which, although registered as a charity, is like a company with dozens of branches or even automatic ATMs operate like banks.
When most banks stopped issuing loans, supporters used it as an alternative to safely deposit and withdraw the dollars they had saved from commercial banks and obtain small interest-free loans in dollars.
When the COVID-19 pandemic reached Lebanon, Hezbollah quickly displayed approximately 25,000 medical volunteers and a team of ambulances during a media visit, and lifted the veil of two testing centers and one hospital. Re-used in patients infected with coronavirus.
In response to Lebanon’s alarming inflation rate, Hezbollah has launched a series of supermarkets to sell products from Iran, Syria and Iraq at low prices for disadvantaged families and provide special cards issued by the party.
Joseph Dah, author of the book “Lebanese Hezbollah Political Economy”, said that the party has deepened its sponsorship network in Lebanon in response to the direct socio-economic needs of its electoral districts. But this is only part of the story, he said.
“Overall, the main reason is political: to issue a statement against the United States and provide services to its constituencies symbolically,” Dakher told Al Jazeera.
“The key issue for Hezbollah is to consolidate its hegemony over the Shiite population of Lebanon, which is why it has increased the various services in Lebanon, even if the importance of the country is becoming less and less important,” he added.
Dakher said Hezbollah’s response to the Lebanese crisis in the past two years has weakened its claims that the party is in financial trouble.
“When people say they have been struggling financially since 2011, I think the opposite is true,” Dach said. “When you see the number of people working for Hezbollah-it has increased.”
Although Hezbollah’s sources of income are not transparent, the United States continues to sanction individuals and companies in a few countries, which they call the party’s “financial channel.”
“People think Iran has reduced its aid to Hezbollah, but because it has suffered economic losses under the sanctions,” Dakher told Al Jazeera. “But the funds do not go through the official network.”
Dakher said that in addition to Iran’s support, Hezbollah is also actively involved in trade and real estate business, but “no one really knows how much it is worth.”
Hezbollah and Amana Fuel Company did not respond to requests for comment.
At the same time, even though Hezbollah has facilitated fuel transportation, millions of people still remind the Lebanese people that the country is far from on the road to recovery.
Although Lebanon established its first official government in more than a year in early September, many people doubt that it can deliver on its promise to pull the country out of the quagmire and introduce economic reforms to release foreign aid.
At the same time, senior political officials continue to delay investigations into the Beirut port bombing that caused the razed capital to the ground.
But with parliamentary elections scheduled for next year, Hezbollah’s flexible sponsorship network has the ability to stand up where others cannot.
“You turn on the TV, and you will see this manifestation of resistance and power in a few seconds,” Atala told Al Jazeera about images of fuel trucks entering the country.
“But in the imagination and psychology of Hezbollah’s constituency, this will continue to exist. I believe they will raise this point again in the election.”
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