Signing of the Egyptian Gas Import Agreement: An American "Yellow Light"

Yesterday, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria signed an agreement to transport 650 million cubic meters of gas annually from Egypt to Lebanon through Syrian territory. Minister of Energy in the caretaker government, Walid Fayad, stated during the signing of the final agreement for importing Egyptian gas at the Ministry of Energy that this agreement "will provide an additional electricity supply of up to 4 hours in Lebanon." However, the uncertainty surrounding the signing of the trilateral agreement continued to overshadow "how the financing and timing of gas arrival" would play out, according to informed sources. They considered that what occurred yesterday was nothing more than the result of an "American yellow light" paving the way for potential obstacle removal in the upcoming period, aiming to safeguard the implementation steps of the Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity import agreements to Lebanon through Syrian territory from Caesar sanctions. Egypt would not have committed to signing the agreement with Lebanon "if it were not confident that matters are heading towards receiving an American green light to execute this agreement." The sources indicated that "the United States will work to secure the legal framework to exempt this operation from the Caesar sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime and its associates, while the World Bank will facilitate Lebanon's obtaining a loan worth nearly $300 million to purchase gas for one year." They noted that "this development, which had remained stagnant for more than 6 months, coincided with Lebanon's official relinquishment of Line 29 for demarcating its maritime borders with Israel... Is there a connection between the two events?"