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EXPERT COMMENT

The Iran fuel shipment to Lebanon was significant not because of its size but because of what it signals about regional conflict.

In September 2021, at the height of the unprecedented fuel shortage in Lebanon, a tanker carrying Iranian fuel docked at a Syrian port where the fuel was loaded onto trucks and driven through an illegal border crossing into Lebanon. The fuel shipment was brokered by Iran-backed Hezbollah to help alleviate Lebanon’s energy crisis that has been brought on by the country’s ongoing economic crisis. The newly formed Lebanese government made no comment about the shipment while Hezbollah hailed the arrival of the fuel a ‘victory’ and as having ‘broken the American siege’ on Lebanon. Despite it being in violation of US sanctions on trade with Iran, the US ignored the scenario altogether.

Although Hezbollah’s propaganda around the arrival of the Iranian fuel exaggerated its potential impact on Lebanon’s fuel shortage, the incident is significant because of what it signals about regional conflict. Firstly, the Lebanese government’s acquiescence to the shipment effectively means implicit acceptance that the border between Syria and Lebanon is porous. Secondly, the absence of condemnation by the United States signals that Lebanon is viewed as a component of the Iranian ecosystem in the Middle East – of which the Syrian conflict is another major component – rather than a distinct player. Both angles demand a new policy framework in understanding and addressing the dynamics of conflict in the region that goes beyond country-focused approaches.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.