Lebanon, Syria discuss demarcation of maritime borders

Lebanese President Michel Aoun held a phone conversation with Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad to discuss the demarcation of the Lebanon-Syria maritime borders, Anadolu reported yesterday.

According to Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe, Aoun confirmed that “Lebanon will not accept to diminish from its sovereignty over its waters.”

This move, Anadolu said, came after the Syrian regime offered a Russian oil company the right to conduct oil exploration in a disputed maritime area on the Mediterranean.

Speaking to Lebanese private channel MTV on Tuesday, Wehbe confirmed that his country is sticking to demarcating the maritime borders via negotiations.

Lebanon: Aoun to launch new initiative with Arab countries

“The last resort would be to seek international courts,” Wehbe said, adding that Beirut will not attack Damascus over the sea dispute.

While most of the land borders between the two countries were demarcated in 1971, the maritime borders between Syria and Lebanon have not been delimited.

Lebanon seeks to end the maritime demarcation with Syria after the discovery of oil and gas resources in the Mediterranean where the Assad regime offered in March a contract to a Russian company to conduct oil exploration in the disputed area known as block No. 1.