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Mayssam Rizk wrote in “Al-Akhbar”: “Either Lebanon withdraws from its maximum negotiation limit or sanctions are imposed on anyone who adheres to this limit.” This is the summary of the message: the threat that the United States envoy brought to the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun and the leadership of the army, while Lebanon remains firm and adheres to the area of 2,200 square kilometers.
The surprise request of the United States of America to postpone the session of indirect negotiations to demarcate the borders that was supposed to take place yesterday was not transitory. A demand that coincided with the mobilization of Washington as possible tools and people to tighten the screws on the resistance, hitting all of Lebanon and bringing it to total collapse. From the sanctions, to the “Caesar Law”, and the current threat to punish parties and parties known for their friendship with the Americans, under the pretext of their coexistence with Hezbollah. Suddenly, American diplomacy decided to freeze the negotiating project that had worked on its own engineering in recent years. The stated goal is to bring the Lebanese and Israeli views closer together and create a common base to start anew, after Lebanon’s position demanding more than the area the enemy considered contested (863 square kilometers) provoked the ire of the Israelis. , while what the American ferry diplomacy led to Lebanese officials was titled: Lebanon is going to withdraw its demand from an area of 2,200 kilometers at sea, and return to the disputed area, that is, the 863 kilometers, is that is, the area between the two points: Point 1 (the line that the enemy deposited with the United Nations in 2010) and 23 (the line that was Declared by Lebanon) before their claim for an additional 1,430 kilometers, noting that the Lebanon is claiming its right, and the maps in its possession show its sovereignty over the area being claimed.
The US Ambassador to Beirut, Dorothy Shea, began the threatening speech in recent days, urging the use of the weapon of sanctions in negotiations to pressure Lebanon. According to sources who follow the file, they have sent Lebanese officials a clear threat: “Adherence to the recent Lebanese proposal hampers the negotiations, and anyone involved in hindering the negotiations will be subject to sanctions.».
The US negotiating mediator, Ambassador John Deroche, who began his visit to Lebanon yesterday by meeting with the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, carried the same message, but in a less severe tone. Sources familiar with the atmosphere of the meeting, which was attended by the US side, along with Deroche, Shea and political advisor Audrey Kiranen, and the Lebanese side, former Minister Salim Jreissati, the general director of the Presidency of the Republic Antoine Choucair , and advisers Osama Khashab and Brigadier General Paul Matar, indicated that “the tone that the Americans used was not blunt.” They demanded a return to the Hove line, while Aoun emphasized that “Lebanon wants the negotiations to be successful, because this strengthens stability in the south and allows the investment of natural resources, such as gas and oil.” He said that “the difficulties that arose in the last round of negotiations can be overcome through an in-depth investigation based on international law and the articles of the law of the sea,” and stressed that “the Lebanese negotiating delegation has clear instructions on the basis.” pointing out the need to continue these negotiations, to achieve the purpose of doing so. Al-Akhbar learned that Aoun relied on a map from an old British aerial reconnaissance that strengthened the Lebanese position and did not violate the law of the sea..
The same Lebanese response was heard by the US delegate during his meeting with the Lebanese negotiating delegation, as in his meeting with the commander of the Armed Forces, General Joseph Aoun, in his office in Yarze, in the presence of the head of the delegation, General of Brigade Bassam Yassin..
Although the Lebanese side, until now, is trying to absorb this US attack to pass what is left of the late US administration, and not fall into the trap of what Israel wants, informed sources confirmed that “the US threat was very serious and high, and there is the threat of imposing narrow sanctions on any A person clings to an area of 2,200 square kilometers, on the pretext that this accession hinders negotiations. Not only that, but “the threat reaches the point of linking demarcation, as the Americans (and Israel, implicitly) want, and the economic and financial tightening of the screws more and more.».
And here the sources stopped, two issues related to this file. These two issues are: First, the escalation of security tension, starting with the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Zadeh, to the Israeli maneuvers on the northern borders, the Israeli alert on the northern front and the intensification of the movement of Israeli planes. in Lebanese airspace, at very low levels and for long periods. Second, the insistence of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to invest in the President of the United States, Donald Trump, until the last day of the White House, in order to pressure Lebanon to collect the concessions that can be obtain on the demarcation file, and possibly post-demarcation agreements, equivalent to “underwater normalization”. »By distributing oil wealth through a company that operates in common reservoirs on the borders between Lebanon and occupied Palestine, as Netanyahu believes that what can now be obtained through pressure from the current US administration, certainly It will not be available with the Biden administration..
