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The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, affirmed his country’s willingness to mediate in the negotiations that witness obstacles between Lebanon and the Israeli occupation regarding the demarcation of the maritime borders between them, according to the agency “Reuters”.
Pompeo said today, Tuesday December 22, that the United States is ready to continue working with Israel and Lebanon in maritime border demarcation negotiations. “Unfortunately, despite the good intentions of both parties, the parties are very far apart.”
He indicated that the United States is willing to mediate in “constructive” discussions and urged both parties to negotiate on the basis of each other’s maritime claims, which were previously deposited with the United Nations.
Block 9 is a station of continuous conflict
Hezbollah separates between normalization with Israel and demarcation of the border
In early 2018, Lebanon exerted internal and external pressure to defend the gas fields in its territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea at the limits of Israel’s territorial waters, represented by Sector No. 9 (map).
However, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated at the time that this sector belongs to Israel, highlighting that Lebanon does not have the right to extract gas from it, which led the Lebanese government to grant two licenses for the exploration of oil in sectors 4 (North Lebanon) and 9 ″ (Far South) of the alliance of French companies “Total”, Italian “Eni” and Russian “Novatec”.
The Lebanese move was followed at the time by the objection of the Israeli Defense Ministry, which stated that “Lebanon has no right to invest oil in Block No. 9”.
Although Lebanon has not entered into naval military conflicts with Israel, it is in dispute with it over the aforementioned bloc, which has an area of about 860 square kilometers.
A map showing the disputed gas wells between Lebanon and the Israeli occupation, October 9, 2020 (Anatolia)
On December 14, Israel declared that it would not allow gas exploration companies contracted with Lebanon to start exploration before the border dispute is resolved and the maritime borders between the two parties are demarcated, as reported by Lebanese daily Al -Akhbar.
The newspaper said it is “the Hebrew media leaks,” indicating that Israel will seek, through further pressure, to pressure Lebanon to withdraw its natural gas rights.
Israel believes that Lebanon’s problem lies in the fact that the stalemate in negotiations on the demarcation of maritime borders will delay the start of gas exploration operations, and that companies that signed contracts with Lebanon will not start exploration. without resolving the border dispute, and this is what the three exploration companies contracted with Lebanon read, and what Lebanon considered an indirect threat.
This coincides with the escalation of the economic crisis in Lebanon, which threatens to support basic products such as fuel and medicines.
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