Syria’s Diesel Levy Is Fair Play

The latest Syrian border action should not be seen as an act of political bullying

Waiting to pay the price… (Photo credit: Lucy Barsakhian, Albalad)

We the Lebanese like to think that we’re the center of the world. This is why our initial instinct when Syria imposed significant diesel levies on outgoing trucks, was to think that this is yet another form of economic aggression; a sinister scheme designed to choke Lebanon’s economy to death.

“This must be in retaliation to the Lebanese spoiling of the Damascus Arab summit” declared scandalized pundits on TV, to the backdrop of heart-wrenching TV footage of Lebanese farmers griping about their forever-lost livelihoods. 

Today, however, sober heads prevailed. After a closer look, observers realized that Syria, whose economy is in trouble, was only trying to prevent neighbors from piggy backing on their state-subsidized diesel, the price of which became so cheap neighbors started smuggling it in truckloads. In other words, this was a legitimate act of economic self-defense.

The Syrian regime might be evil, but not everything it does necessarily is. Our farmers are still in trouble. But their plight is not Syria’s to solve.