Among the pools of stagnant water left by the torrential "Cannon Rains", young children are moving in the poor and forgotten neighborhood of "Tanak neighborhood" in North Lebanon.
And as soon as the rains subsided for a few minutes, the little ones would come out with their mothers with pale and sad faces, the deprivation of the warmth on their limbs and the grinding of their teeth, to cooperate in the drip of the water that flooded their fragile homes.
Inside a ground room, 40-year-old Lebanese Jamila Ahmed sits with her four children, close together under a single woolen cover, complaining to Al-Jazeera Net that the winter season has turned into a nightmare as a result of her house's wear and her husband's inability to secure a means of heating.
Her neighbor Basma Abdel Qader, 48, who shares the tragedy, interrupts her, saying, "We can no longer buy diesel or gas to warm our children and protect them from disease in unsafe homes."
"Hay al-Tanak" summarizes the stories of thousands of poor Lebanese in the coast or in the coldest mountainous areas, after their living suffering doubled this year due to the economic collapse in the country, the instability in the fuel market and the interruption of diesel fuel in some cases, which deepened the inability of the poor to secure Heating means.
In the "Tanak neighborhood" behind the El Mina beach, dozens of destitute Lebanese families, and some displaced Syrians, live in hundreds of rooms that are roofed with cement panels, or made of "tin" or brittle iron sheets.
Al-Tanak neighborhood is home to dozens of poor Lebanese families and some displaced Syrians (Al-Jazeera)
The fuel crisis
The fuel crisis has been exacerbated by the intensification of the banking crisis and the scarcity of the dollar against the collapse of the national currency to unprecedented levels, as the trading of one dollar exceeded the threshold of 8200 Lebanese pounds.
With the announcement of the Central Bank of Lebanon's warnings about the start of the lifting of subsidies on the import of basic goods, due to the depletion of reserves in hard currency, concern increased about how to secure fuel, especially since Lebanon imports 100% of them.
It was previously agreed between the oil importing companies and the Central Bank to purchase fuel at a rate of 85% in Lebanese pounds, and to pay 15% of the amount in dollars, but this small percentage is no longer insured either, prompting some companies to refrain from delivering fuel to gas stations.
Observers went on to consider that the fuel crisis has become structural, because the support mechanism is useless, and instead of citizens benefiting from fuel subsidies, some traders have resorted to monopolizing large quantities of them at the subsidized price.
In the context, George Braux, a member of the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners, considers that the recent increase in fuel prices is linked to the return of high oil prices globally, while the reason for the lack of diesel fuel in Lebanon is related to the crisis of the central reserve allocated to import basic materials.
Brax mentioned to Al-Jazeera Net that the remaining quantities of fuel are very small, and some of the fuel ships at sea did not unload their cargo, because the companies involved in receiving the goods did not open bank credits for them.
The price of a 20-liter diesel package is about 16,000 liras ($ 11 according to the official exchange rate), and Brax expects that the price of the package will exceed 65,000 liras ($ 43), which is likely to rise because the lifting of subsidies will lead to a successive collapse of the lira as a result of the rise Demand for dollars on the black market.
In the event that the subsidies are lifted, Brax is likely to become a scarce currency in 2021, "because the crisis is political and there is no way out to secure the imported basic materials without the entry of new dollars from abroad."
And because the depletion of fuels deprives the Lebanese of heating and electric power and hinders the transportation sector, Brax believes that one of the causes of the crisis is related to the smuggling of fuel into Syria, which drains more than 35% of the value of the dollars allocated for its import.
The union member points out that Lebanon has 4,500 fuel stations, 2,700 of them are legitimate, and the rest operate illegally, which facilitates smuggling and storage of fuel in exchange for refraining from selling them to benefit from raising their prices later.
The fuel crisis worsened with the intensification of the banking crisis and the scarcity of the dollar in exchange for the collapse of the national currency (Al-Jazeera)
Absence of a plan
Lebanon is awaiting the end of the electricity supply contract with the Algerian "Sonatrach" company at the end of the year, without the maturity of an official plan to save the Lebanese people from darkness and the depletion of fuel, while circulation is limited to proposals that did not lead their way towards an implementation plan, such as importing "fuel" and fuel from Iraq.
It was surprising what was recently reported by the Minister of Energy in the caretaker government, Raymond Ghajar, that the amount of "fuel" available is sufficient for Lebanon until the end of 2021, which is refuted by the estimates of economic analysts, especially since the rationing of hours of electric power continues to rise.
The Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Water, Auror Feghali, points out that the import of fuel this year has decreased by 10% compared to last year, with the exception of diesel, which has increased by 15%, denying the existence of a fuel crisis in Lebanon, as she considers that the Lebanese are the ones who caused the crisis due to storage Mazot materials in large quantities for heating and cooking, and that there are balconies of houses containing more than 10 gas bottles.
Feghali refuses to hold the Energy Ministry responsible for the fuel crisis, arguing that there is a shared responsibility between the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the government collectively to study this file.
She told Al-Jazeera Net that "there are those who ignite crises to create concern among the people, and importing diesel is facing more obstacles than importing fuel, and the electric supply is secured as long as the government budget notes it, and the meetings are still continuing in this regard."
Repercussions of the crisis
Academic researcher Nasser Yassin, supervisor of the Crisis Observatory at the American University of Beirut, stated that the heating issue is essential, especially in rural areas such as Baalbek, Bekaa and Akkar, which rely on firewood in addition to diesel, and that the removal of fuel subsidies will lead to a visit to the prices of petrol, diesel and gas beyond 160%.
Yassin expects - in a statement to Al Jazeera Net - that the lifting of subsidies will lead to an increase of two and a half times the cost of household spending on electricity, gas, transportation, heating and cooking, and that most Lebanese families will have to change their consumption of fuel and fuel.
Yassin is likely that, after the support is lifted, the Lebanese will become more like refugees in their country, and that they will wait for the support of international winter programs and seek to secure the purchase of fuel with relief vouchers.
He believes that Lebanon faces different scenarios regarding fuel, either continuing with subsidies, which means using more people's deposits, or completely lifting the subsidies, which opens the country to a major social impasse when the Lebanese feel the brunt of price liberalization, and the third scenario is to gradually raise subsidies by liberating part of the exchange rate. The pound, targeting the poorest groups.
The danger in these solutions - according to the researcher - is that all of them have negative repercussions, while continuing to support is not a sustainable solution and does not secure social justice.
Yassin regrets that the state is not working to find alternative solutions for the poorest families in the winter, such as securing diesel vouchers for them, and he expects the electricity crisis to worsen next year, and that the feeding hours will drop to less than 7 hours a day, in the event that an emergency plan is not put in place for this sector that incurred the state. Huge debts and losses as a result of his corruption and mismanagement.