The sight of car queues in front of petrol stations has become a normal occurrence for citizens, especially in the North. The stations do not provide the cars with sufficient gasoline, so most of them do not give more than half of a plate, equivalent to the value of twenty thousand pounds only, and when the stations are closed due to the exhaustion of gasoline, the parallel market or what is known as the black market is activated, so the plate is sold in gallons at a price that sometimes exceeds three times.

A citizen told “Voice of Beirut International” correspondent Ghassan Farran, “The nature of my work makes me  move around a lot to deliver goods to customers, as I need around 20 gallons of fuel daily, which forces me to buy it from the black market.” The owner of a fuel station said: “stations’ closure is what leads to the emergence of the black market. Citizens cannot get enough of the fuel, and officials do not open credits for ships. He explained by saying:” Whoever sells fuel on the black market is the one who, and most of his relatives are  filling the fuel in gallons, despite the fact that the security forces have banned it  and we have implemented the decision, but they stopped protecting us. We cannot confront the junkies who force us to sell them gasoline, so they will sell a bottle for 10 thousand pounds and a gallon for 50 thousand pounds. ”

How long will this humiliating scene against the Lebanese continue? And for how long will the black market remain rampant in the streets in a very clear way, with the complete absence of the concerned authorities?