Hezbollah began bringing Iranian fuel into Lebanon via Syria on Thursday, a move the Shi'ite group says aims to ease a crippling energy crisis but which its opponents have said exposes the country to the risk of U.S. sanctions.
The trucks crossed into northeastern Lebanon near the village of al-Ain, where a banner declared that Hezbollah had broken a "siege" on Lebanon.
The energy crisis is a result of a financial meltdown that has devastated the Lebanese economy since 2019, sinking the currency by some 90% and sending more than three quarters of the population into poverty. The decision to import fuel marks an expansion of the role played by the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where critics have long accused the heavily armed group that has fought wars with Israel of acting as a state within the state.
Washington has reiterated that U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil sales remain in place, but it has not said whether it is considering imposing measures against Lebanon over the move by Hezbollah.The United States, a big supplier of humanitarian and military aid to Lebanon, is backing a plan to ease the energy crisis usingpiped via Jordan and Syria. The U.S. ambassador has said Lebanon does not need Iranian fuel.
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