Israel has signed an agreement to indirectly pump natural gas to Lebanon to aid the crisis-hit nation, an unsourced television report claimed on Saturday.Channel 12 news reported that the deal was brokered by Amos Hochstein, Washington’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, and signed in secret over the weekend.It will see Israel transfer gas from the offshore Leviathan field to Jordan, the report said. From there it will be transferred to Syria and on to Lebanon.However, the network said, the move will require repairing and extending a gas line that flows from Syria to Lebanon, which could take several years.The agreement was approved by the United States and was also coordinated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the report.
Since this sort of thing makes Arabs who hate Israel go crazy, the US State Department tweeted a denial - that wasn't a denial.
Naharnet adds:
The Lebanese Ministry of Energy affirmed, for its part, that the natural gas is Egyptian, denying the media reports as well.The natural gas from Egypt will be used to generate electrical power to the Lebanese who are currently living with only few hours of state electricity a day and are obliged to pay increasing hefty bills to private generator operators, which also depend on diesel fuel.
The deal would not have been between Israel and Lebanon - it would have been between Israel and Jordan (or Egypt) and then between Jordan (or Egypt) and Lebanon.
Israel already sells natural gas to both Egypt and Jordan. Does no one believe that some of the gas that goes to Egypt will end up in Lebanon?
