BEIRUT: Lebanon is struggling with major shortages of medical supplies and fuel, leaving motorists queuing for hours at gas stations across the country, amid a deepening economic crisis.
Lebanon's streets were blocked by long lines of vehicles on Friday as drivers waited to fill their cars, with each only allowed 10 litres of petrol.
The lines of cars caused numerous traffic jams and occasionally chaos broke out as motorists scrambled to obtain their portion of fuel, witnesses said.
Experiencing its worst economic crisis since the end of its 15-year civil war in 1990, Lebanon is suffering from a shortage of foreign currency reserves necessary to import essential goods.
Experts have warned that the fuel shortage could cause Lebanon's power supply to collapse completely and trigger an internet outage in the near future.
Meanwhile health care officials expressed concerns about the acute shortage of medicines and other supplies.
Chairman of the Beirut Doctors' Syndicate, Sharaf Abu Sharaf, said that urgently-needed supplies were running low.
"The situation is very difficult. All hospitals are only performing emergency operations now," he said.
On Friday, pharmacies nationwide began a two-day strike, protesting about the shortages of medicines.
Lebanon is suffering one of the world's worst economic crises in more than 150 years, according to the World Bank.
The Lebanese pound has lost about 90 per cent of its value against the dollar since 2019.
The country has been under pressure from international financing institutions to introduce economic reforms and act against corruption amid a political deadlock on the formation of a new government.
Meanwhile, the head of Lebanon's powerful Hizbullah said last week that the country could soon be forced to rely on fuel imports from Iran, amid an ongoing economic collapse.
Lebanon has been facing increasingly severe fuel shortages in recent months, with long queues at service stations and some drivers waiting more than an hour to buy even small quantities of supplies.
Describing the situation as humiliating, Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah called on authorities to take a "courageous decision" and override their "fear" of the US to import fuel supplies from Iran, a country under hefty American sanctions.
If the Lebanese state fails to take action, "we, within Hizbullah, will go to Iran, negotiate with the Iranian government... and buy vessels full of petrol and fuel oil and bring them to Beirut port," Nasrallah said.
"Let the Lebanese state (dare to) prevent the delivery of petrol and fuel oil to the Lebanese people!" he said, adding, "We can no longer tolerate these scenes of humiliation." - dpa/AFP
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