BEIRUT: A dispute over scarce fuel supplies ignited sectarian tensions between neighbouring villages in southern Lebanon over the weekend, forcing the army to intervene, a security source said.
Clashes mostly centred on the crippling gasoline and diesel shortages have become a daily occurrence in Lebanon, prompting growing concern about a descent into chaos after two years of financial meltdown. Around six people were wounded in a dispute involving a village of Maghdouche and Ankoun, the source said.
The incident spiralled when a Maghdouche resident filed a complaint to police after being injured during a dispute over fuel on Friday and police visited Ankoun to investigate. Villagers blocked roads and burnt trees and troops were deployed, the source said. The situation was calm on Monday.
The Amal movement, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, condemned the violence, saying it had, “no relation in any way shape or form to what happened in Maghdouche”, denying accusations on social media of involvement.
The financial meltdown, which has seen the currency sink by more than 90 per cent in two years and forced more than half of the population into poverty, entered a new phase this month as the fuel shortages brought much of Lebanon to a standstill.
The state’s most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Latif Derian, said on Friday Lebanon was heading towards complete collapse unless action was taken to remedy the crisis.
The financial meltdown has been compounded by political paralysis, the country being without a government since the last one resigned in the aftermath of last year’s Beirut port blast.
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, the third to attempt to form a cabinet since the last one resigned, said on Friday there were grave hurdles complicating the process.
Earlier, the leader of Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said a third vessel of Iranian fuel was agreed to ease crippling shortages in the country.
“We have agreed to start loading a third vessel,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
“The coming days will prove those doubtful about the shipments arriving with fuel wrong … and our words will be clear when the first vessel reaches Lebanon.”
On Sunday Nasrallah had said the first vessel carrying Iranian fuel for Lebanon had already departed.
Hezbollah’s foes in Lebanon have warned of dire consequences from the purchase, saying it risked sanctions being imposed on a country whose economy has been in meltdown for nearly two years.
Nasrallah blamed the country’s economic crisis on what he called an economic siege by the United States adding that the sanctions imposed by Washington on Syria had harmed Lebanon. Lebanon’s worsening fuel shortages reached a crunch point this month threatening to bring daily life to a halt. – Reuters
