Lebanon news – The country has been left without electricity, plunging the country into darkness amid a severe economic crisis.
The entire country of Lebanon is now left only with personal generators following an electricity outage as the national grid has shutdown on Saturday
A government official told Reuters news agency the country’s two largest power stations, Deir Ammar and Zahrani, had shut down because of a fuel shortage.
The power grid “completely stopped working at noon today” and was unlikely to restart for several days, they said.
Lebanon News – It is a sad story
For the past 18 months, Lebanon has endured an economic crisis and extreme fuel shortages. From where it was before the pandemic to where it is now, is incredibly difficult to stomach. Corruption and devastating events have crippled the country into a downward spiral.
Lebanon turns to Syria for desperately-needed energy imports
That crisis has left half its population in poverty, crippled its currency and sparked major demonstrations against politicians.
A lack of foreign currency meanwhile has made it hard to pay overseas energy suppliers.
Last month Hezbollah brought Iranian fuel into the country to ease the fuel shortages and help the local economy.
Protests in the north of Lebanon
More from Lebanon news – Protests in the northern town of Halba, outside the offices of the state power company, as well as residents blocking roads with burning tyres in the city of Tripoli.
Many Lebanese people already depend on private diesel-powered generators for power. These however have become increasingly expensive to run amid the lack of fuel and cannot cover for the lack of a nationwide power grid.
People were often receiving just two hours of electricity a day in the country before this latest shutdown.
The country is also grappling with the aftermath of the Beirut blast in August 2020, which killed 219 people and injured 7,000 others.
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