Lebanon Goes Dark as Country Teeters Under Political, Economic Crisis

JERUSALEM, Israel - Lebanon’s electric grid is back online after the army supplied fuel to two key power stations. 

On Saturday the country suffered a massive blackout when the state power plants ran out of fuel.

The blackout plunged Beirut – once known as the “Paris of the Middle East” – into the dark.  Car headlights became the main source of light. 

"We used to have electricity for an hour daily. Now it is totally cut,” said resident Tarek Kanafani. “We are spending our time outside our homes, so our children can have fun. The situation is heading to the worse. May God protect us as we do not know where we are heading to."

The lack of power represents a crisis for hospitals, essential services and ordinary people trying to keep their refrigerators running and food from spoiling. 

Last week, Jordan agreed to supply electricity to Lebanon but that deal could take months to implement. 

The energy crisis is part of a larger political and economic crisis where Lebanon’s currency has lost 90% of its value.  Recently depositors stormed a bank in central Beirut after the bank blocked their money.   

"I am demanding my right, my money. All my years of work were robbed,” said Ramy Ghandour. “They (politicians and banks) robbed people's work and they put them in the name of their children abroad."

A new government took office recently, the first since the massive explosion in August 2020 that devastated the city of Beirut.  But Israeli analyst and Retired Brig. General Assaf Orion told CBN News recently Hezbollah is the real power inside Lebanon. 

“They’re running the show. They allow legitimate veneer of Christians, Sunnis and others to take part in this façade,” he said. “As long as the world buys it and keeps on paying, it will keep on going.”

Orion says Lebanon is not a failed state but a fake state because the terrorist group Hezbollah is the real power inside the country.  In the meantime, the Lebanese people are suffering through an economic crisis the World Bank says is one of the worst in the world in the past 150 years.