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Lebanon blocks oil tanker heading to Syria’s Assad regime

October 7, 2020 at 10:33 am

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, Syria on 7 September 2020 [Russian Foreign Ministry/Anadolu Agency]

Lebanese authorities have blocked an oil tanker taking off from Greece and heading to Syria’s Assad regime, Safa news agency reported yesterday.

According to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Safa said that the Lebanese judiciary has been investigating the arrival of the tanker to the country’s coast.

The London-based newspaper said that the Lebanese authorities doubt that this tanker was heading to Syria in breach of the sanctions imposed on President Bashar Al-Assad regime under the Caesar Act.

Informed sources reported that the tanker is owned by a company called Al-Ne’am based in Harasta in the suburbs of Damascus.

The sources stressed that this tanker would never be allowed to enter Lebanese ports if it aimed to breach US sanctions on the Syrian regime.

Authorities said they would return the tanker to Greece in order to avoid any American sanctions should the investigation show that it was violating sanctions.

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