Lebanon has issued a denial in response to reports published this weekend that the United States brokered a deal in which Israel would indirectly supply the country with natural gas.
Under the agreement, Israel would pipe natural gas from the offshore Mediterranean Tamar and Leviathan gas fields to Jordan, then to Syria and finally to Lebanon.
The United States agreed to exempt the project from sanctions it has imposed on the regime of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.
The deal was brokered by US special envoy for energy, Amos Hochstein.
Unsurprisingly, Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy and Water said in a statement Sunday the information broadcast in a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News reporter Ehud Ya’ari was “totally and completely untrue.”
The ministry said Lebanon and Egypt are instead working on an agreement to supply Egyptian natural gas alone.
Lebanon and Israel are enemies, and Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah is a participant in the Beirut parliament and government cabinet.
But Lebanon has suffered for months from a severe energy crisis that often leads to power outages nationwide.
The country’s residents are currently living on just a few hours of electricity each day; many have private generators at their homes to compensate for the lack.
