The Lebanese Ministry of Energy Sunday announced the partial restart of the electricity network after the army provided fuel supplies. 

A ministry statement said that "the army (handed over) a total quantity of 6000 kiloliters of gas-oil divided equally between the Deir Ammar and Al-Zahrani plants," allowing electricity to be provided for a few hours a day.

The impact of an economic collapse that has been ongoing for two years in Lebanon, which the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world since 1850, has cut electricity in the country down to a mere two hours a day in many cases. 

The country is facing difficulties in supplying fuel as a result of an unprecedented decline in the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound and a severe weakness in hard currency reserves.

On Saturday, Lebanon plunged into darkness for the second time in a month, after two major power plants stopped working. Stocks of fuel are running out for the private generators on which homes, shops and hospitals depend.

The country, whose political elite is accused of corruption and inefficiency, has suffered for decades from weak electricity production, which has cost the state treasury billions of dollars since the end of the war (1975-1990).

The international community calls on Lebanon to implement urgent reforms, especially in the Electricité du Liban, a symbol of the collapse of public services in the country.