Lebanon: Maritime border talks with Israel moving in right direction

Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, said the maritime border talks with Israel are moving in the right direction despite the presence of “thorny and complex issues”.

“There is a third party that can help Lebanon in the solution, which is [French] Total and President [Michel] Aoun will make contacts to help in this regard, and communication will increase during the current month,” Bou Saab said during a press conference yesterday.

Bou Saab met with Aoun yesterday and discussed the recent contacts with the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, who will visit Lebanon at the end of the week.

He added that he had informed Aoun that Hochstein’s visit would “not bring a definitive solution” to Lebanon’s maritime border dispute with Israel, but it would be “another positive step towards one.”

READ: Lebanon says border demarcation talks with Israel ‘complicated’

Bou Saab added that the ongoing communications with Hochstein will “intensify” in September.

“The file is not easy and it is not just a matter of demarcation of a line. There are many complications but they are being loosened one after the other and for that reason, we are saying that things are on the right path,” he said.

Lebanon and Israel are locked in a dispute over an area in the Mediterranean which is rich in oil and gas.

The United States is mediating indirect negotiations between the two sides to settle the dispute and demarcate the border. So far, five rounds of talks have been held, the last of which took place in May 2021, however, they came to a halt due to fundamental differences.

Israel to continue gas exploration in contested maritime area – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]