US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker met yesterday with Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in Beirut and discussed the demarcation of land and sea borders with Israel, the Lebanese news agency reported.
During their meeting, the officials discussed preserving Lebanon’s oil interests.
Schenker is scheduled to meet with a number of high ranking Lebanese officials including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri during his visit to Lebanon. He has previously shuttled between Lebanon and Israel to end the border dispute.
OPINION: US mediation between Lebanon and Israel revolves around Israel’s best interests
Lebanon and Israel have a dispute over an 860 square kilometres region known as Area 9 which is rich in oil and gas.
In 2012, Lebanon rejected a US proposal to grant 360 square kilometers of its water to Israel, in exchange for two-thirds of the economic zone.
![Israel, Lebanon tensions at the border - Cartoon [Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20150130-Latuff-Israel-and-Lebanon-Border-Tensions.jpg?resize=933%2C693&ssl=1)
Israel, Lebanon tensions at the border – Cartoon [Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]
Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.
Spotted an error on this page? Let us know
Latest news
See all
