Knock out Lebanon's power supply? It doesn't exist

• Published date: 01 September 2024
• Author: Alon Pearl
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

And no, this is not about the ongoing war with Hezbollah, which moved up a notch last week, when the IDF launched a pre-emptive strike on missiles and rockets aimed at strategic targets in Israel. This is mainly about what happened about two weeks ago, on August 17, when Lebanon's electric corporation, Électricité du Liban (EDL), announced a complete power shutdown across the country

"After exploiting all the other options to extend the duration of power production to the maximum possible, the company's last power plant has ceased power supply across all Lebanese territories, due to a lack of fuel, and with that the power supply to all of Lebanon has been completely halted," the statement said. The company further stated that this would affect essential facilities such as the airport, port, water pumps, sewage, and prisons.

Ostensibly, this event could be to Israel's benefit. If it is really decided to send Lebanon back to prehistory, as Gallant said, it wouldn't take much work. But after reviewing the initial, basic implications, several questions remain. How much does this event really hurt Hezbollah, and does it perhaps actually strengthens its position? Does the precarious situation in Lebanon deprive Israel of a possible pressure lever in the future, since is no electric power anyway, and perhaps the situation should signal to Israel to stop the fighting, and let Beirut sink into its own bog?

"The Arab oil countries didn't volunteer to help"

"Ever since the civil war, which began in 1975 and ended in 1990, the condition of the power infrastructure in Lebanon has been atrocious, and it has mainly relied on four power plants," says Dr. Jacques Neria, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs (JCFA), an expert on Lebanon, and a former political adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. "Even after the war, it did not invest in infrastructure and power plants for years, because of sectarian rivalries and internal disputes, and relied on the existing plants and foreign solutions." For example, in 2012, Turkish energy company Karpowership signed a contract with EDL and put in place two offshore power plants that supplied 25% of all the country's electricity.

But Lebanon's economic reality changed dramatically in 2019. "The crisis arose mainly as a result of the civil war in Syria," explains Dr. Neria. "Saudi Arabia and other countries wanted to overthrow the Assad regime, so they tried to fight Hezbollah, and withdrew funds from the banks in Lebanon. As a result, the banks had no liquidity, creating a huge crisis." Lebanon thus had no money left for fuel, and in 2021, Karpowership decided to terminate its contract.

"Since then, Lebanon...