Smuggling from Lebanon into Syria is draining the last bit of blood still running in the Lebanese economy. It is carried out under the control of Hezbollah, in full view of the security forces of the colluding regime of puppet president Michel Aoun and his poodle son-in-law Gebran Bassil, as well as under the very nose of an oblivious Lebanese Army led by General Joseph Aoun. Both Bassil and Joseph Aoun are vying for the president’s office in the upcoming Fall 2022 elections, and as a result they are not going to rock the boat and displease the Assad regime or Hezbollah. Smuggling is in effect a source of funding for the terror organization of Hezbollah, and a lifeline to the equally decrepit economy of the vulgar Syrian regime. Indeed, imports into Lebanon, according to most experts, serve two economies, the Lebanese and the Syrian.
That’s how it goes in this sad country of Lebanon: Laws, principles, norms are trashed for petty personal political gains all camouflaged under a sectarian mantra.
The Democratic Gathering, a parliamentary coalition affiliated with the Progressive Socialist [not really, but...] party of Walid Jumblatt has, on the other hand, tried to address the issue and has found for months now that the Judiciary is as corrupt as the politicians it protects. The Secretary General of the Democratic Gathering, Hadi Aboul-Hassan, has so far filed numerous reports to the attorney general regarding the smuggling of subsidized flour and fuel oil, but to no avail. It seems that the Lebanese are for the most part a bunch of sissies and profiteers who fear only for their lives or their money.
Aboul-Hassan says in an interview with the MTV television station, “I submitted my report more than two years ago, and I included in it the names of the border crossing points, in addition to the media reports that raised the issue. I visited with the attorney general, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, and I requested that the then-government of Hassaan Diab, as well as the Higher Defense Council, take practical and serious measures to address the problem. After some time, I checked back with the attorney general who told me that he has forwarded the report to the concerned authorities. Yet, no measures whatsoever were taken and not one smuggler has been apprehended.”
What are the reasons for this dereliction? And who are those who control everything in this country? Aboul-Hassan replies, “This [smuggling] activity is covered politically. It is controlled by a network of local and regional interests. The smugglers are allowed to continue for many reasons as part of a Lebanese-Syrian network. The smuggling occurs in both directions across the border. From Lebanon, subsidized goods are smuggled into Syria, and in the other direction Syrian goods are smuggled into Lebanon without payments of any taxes to the Lebanese government. This latter activity causes an additional bleeding of revenues for the Lebanese treasury of 2 billion dollars annually, according to the World Bank. As for the smuggling from Lebanon into Syria, it costs us more than 15 billion dollars in subsidies to the Lebanese people. We have warned about this situation and tried to address it.”
Mr. Abou-Hassan further said, “when we called for tightening controls over the borders, we did so in parallel with a plan to rationalize the subsidies. The two issues are tied together. Unfortunately, lifting the subsidies occurred only after 70% of people’s monies were depleted by smuggling, while some were saying that this activity constituted a breathing room for the alliance between the Syrian regime and its Lebanese allies… We demanded an interdiction of smuggling at the same time as a rationalization of the subsidies, with the objective of preserving people’s bank deposits which were squandered by administrative incompetence and the lack of decision-making. Those who rejected the decision of rationalizing the subsidies program include the President of the Republic [Michel Aoun], the Prime Minister [Hassaan Diab] and the President’s allies who are the allies of the Syrian regime.”
“It is true that most goods and food items are no longer subsidized, but unfortunately the smuggling continues and is still a threat to the last remaining subsidized item, flour, whereby 30% of the subsidized Lebanese flour is smuggled to Syria, in addition to bread packages… this is a scandal and another report for the judicial authorities and the concerned security forces to act accordingly. This is blatant theft of the Lebanese people’s money… When a Lebanese citizen wishes to add a room to his house, all the security forces show up. But not one of them sees the flour-loaded trucks, just as they never saw the fuel trucks in the past, as they trek across the border into Syria.”
Two more months are left of the presidency of the Hezbollah puppet President, Michel Aoun, whose enslavement to the Syrian and Iranian regimes is bewildering, when we know that he was chased out of Lebanon into a 15-year long exile by the Syrian regime itself. Now the political class is again lining up a couple of Syrian stooges to replace Aoun.
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