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