Beirut, Lebanon – Already grappling with an economic crisis crippling the country, Lebanese farmers fear a recent produce ban by Saudi Arabia will be a decisive blow to their livelihoods.
Saudi Arabia announced on Friday an indefinite ban on Lebanese agricultural products after foiling an attempt to smuggle 5.3 million pills of the illegal amphetamine Captagon hidden in a shipment of pomegranates at Jeddah Port.
Captagon is manufactured in Lebanon, Jordan and possibly in Syria and Iraq, primarily for consumption in Saudi Arabia, according to (PDF) the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
“This is an unjust decision,” Hassan Abbas of the Agricultural Workers Union told Al Jazeera. “We were astonished that a country like Saudi Arabia that has provided so much aid to Lebanon to make such a hasty decision.”