On 15 January 2022, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that a secret agreement to supply natural gas to energy-starved Lebanon had been signed between the Israeli and Lebanese governments. This may enable Lebanon to come out, at least partially, of its critical electricity crisis.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon relating to hydrocarbon reserves in the Mediterranean are being conducted by US Special Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein.

The Channel 12 allegations were promptly denied by the Lebanese Energy Ministry, but the question still remains. A prior agreement, signed on 9 September 2021, contemplates the delivery of Egyptian gas via the Arab gas pipeline through Jordan and Syria (photo). The United States, which prohibits all trade with Syria under its Cesar law, has nevertheless agreed to this route. What if the Egyptian gas were actually Israeli?

Israel and Lebanon are still at war, despite the 2006 ceasefire.