Lebanon says the US has offered additional assurances {that a} regional vitality deal involving Syria received’t run afoul of US sanctions, the Lebanese prime minister’s workplace stated on Friday.
A US-endorsed deal would transport Egyptian pure gasoline to energy-starved Lebanon utilizing the Arab Fuel Pipeline, an present transnational pipeline extending from Egypt to Lebanon by way of Jordan and Syria. For its participation within the World Financial institution-financed undertaking, the Syrian authorities is anticipated to obtain in-kind compensation as a substitute of money funds.
Questions stay over whether or not the vitality undertaking would contradict US sanctions on the Syrian authorities and its benefactors. The Caesar Act permits the US to sanction third events who do enterprise with the Syrian authorities, particularly within the building, engineering, aviation and vitality sectors. In October, senior State Division official Victoria Nuland stated that as a result of the deal “falls below the humanitarian class, no sanctions waiver can be required.”
However final month, Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Assets Tarek El Molla told Al-Monitor that Cairo was nonetheless searching for assurances from Washington that its involvement within the vitality deal wouldn’t violate sanctions.
Throughout a gathering in Beirut on Friday, US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea advised Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that there are not any considerations concerning potential sanctions, his workplace stated.
Shea handed Mikati a US Treasury Division letter “to reply a number of the considerations the Lebanese authorities had concerning regional vitality agreements that the US helped facilitate between Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt,” in response to a statement from Mikati’s workplace.
In a statement posted to the US Embassy’s web site, Shea confirmed she delivered a letter that addressed some considerations held by Lebanese authorities. She added that the Treasury letter “represents ahead momentum, an essential milestone as we proceed to make progress to deliver safer, cleaner, extra dependable and extra sustainable vitality options to assist tackle the vitality disaster.”
Energy outages brought on by a scarcity of gasoline are deepening Lebanon’s financial and humanitarian disaster. The Lebanese foreign money has misplaced round 90% of its worth since 2019, plunging hundreds of thousands into poverty.
