Lebanon could import gas via Syria, skip sanctions to alleviate blackouts, US says

Lebanon could get clearance from the US government to import energy via Syria, circumventing previously imposed sanctions, a US envoy said Thursday.

Lebanon suffers from frequent power cuts due to energy shortages, hampering business and daily life.

The US has given Lebanon some reassurances that it will be able to import energy from nearby countries as it desperately seeks to alleviate chronic electricity shortages, Amos Hochstein, senior energy security adviser to the State Department told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

"We have given them some comfort, a pre-clearance, based on the information that we had, to move ahead on the sanctions, but I want to be clear that that will be determined once the contracts are signed," Hochstein told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

The electricity shortage has become so acute that people only receive four to five hours of power from the national grid a day.

Beirut has negotiated electricity and gas import deals with Jordan and Egypt, but its transit through Syria could put all countries involved in breach of US sanctions on Damascus.

"What makes it so difficult is that in order to stay out of the benefitting of Assad, this makes it very very difficult, and that's why it's taken such a long time," Hochstein added.

Lebanon's electricity shortage is just one of a number of crises that have gripped the country since an economic crash in 2019.

About three-quarters of the country's population currently lives below the poverty line.