TFLE01: SINIORA WORRIED ABOUT FUEL, EMBARGO;

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 002492 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/SINGH/HARDING E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2026 TAGS: PREL PGOV ENRG ECON LE IS SUBJECT: TFLE01: SINIORA WORRIED ABOUT FUEL, EMBARGO; CALLS HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS "A JOKE" REF: BEIRUT 2487 Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador, per 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) In a 7/29 meeting with the Ambassador, PM Siniora, visibly angry, expressed three major concerns. First, he described the humanitarian corridors as "a joke." The Israelis were not serious, he argued, citing examples of humanitarian convoys that had been delayed for days, given approvals but fired upon later, or prevented from reaching the most critical areas of the country. The IDF has hit clearly marked ambulances. Pressed by the Ambassador, Siniora acknowledged that there are risks that humanitarian convoys could also smuggle items to Hizballah fighters, but he described the "greater risk" as what is facing the population in the south that has no access to water, food, medicines or, in some cases, shelter. ¶2. (C) Siniora's second concern regarded fuel. Supplies of all fuels are now dwindling, and supplies cannot be replenished overnight -- it sometimes takes weeks for tankers to come to the area. Siniora fumed that the international community is trying to respond to one humanitarian crisis but doing nothing to prevent another one. If fuel runs out, electricity stops. The taps go dry, sewage is not processed, and black-outs cause innumerable hardships. Siniora said that, in the immediate term, some of the fuel needs could be met if Israel would permit tanker trucks to retrieve fuel from the surviving storage tanks at Jiyyeh (north of Sidon). But, he claimed, Israel has shot at tankers approaching Jiyyeh, making it dangerous to reach that facility. Lebanon could buy some supplies from Syria, but "why should Israel push us into the arms of the Syrians when we are willing to buy internationally?" ¶3. (C) His third concern was about imports and exports more generally. Domestic industries are starting to shutter, after nearly three weeks of the IDF-imposed embargo. The worst is the bottled water industry, he said, as the plastic raw materials needed to make bottles are depleted. By mid-week, Lebanon may be out of bottled water, not because the springs went dry but because there are no bottles. At the very time that Lebanese most need bottled water -- in shelters, in isolated villages, etc. -- it may be unavailable because of the Israeli embargo. "Why should we have to rely on humanitarian deliveries of bottled water, while our own (bottling) companies have to lay off their workers?" he asked. He also cited other industries laying off workers for loss of raw materials and export markets. "Why are you allowing the crisis to spread to areas of the country that are otherwise non-belligerent?" he asked. People who are now losing their jobs because of the Israeli embargo are no longer blaming Hizballah but rather the Israelis "and you," he warned. ¶4. (C) Comment: Siniora was in a foul mood. This is the first day that gas stations in Beirut have started to close for lack of supplies, and nerves are frayed. But he is not the first or only person to warn us of the humanitarian crisis that will ensue if fuel deliveries do not resume very soon. (See reftel for details.) However, we have subsequently learned that the situation with the humanitarian corridors is not as relentlessly bleak as he described. Geir Pedersen from the UN told us that, in general, UN convoys are getting through to many -- but not all -- areas. Some of the NGOs are having less luck, however, and the newspapers are filled with pictures of destroyed ambulances and the like. FELTMAN