BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament speaker told a senior US diplomat on Friday that his country rejects current American proposals over the disputed marine border with Israel.
Nabih Berri made the statement after meeting acting Assistant US Secretary of State David Satterfield to discuss the offshore oil-rich Block 9.
But Lebanon appeared to have returned to its hard line over the proposal made in 2013 by a US diplomat that would give Lebanon around two thirds and Israel around one-third of the triangular area of around 860 square km.
“What is proposed is unacceptable,” Berri said, referring to the Frederick Hof naval line.
When asked about what was raised in the meeting, Ali Hamdan, an advisor to Berri, told Arab News: “We prefer to remain silent about the ideas put forward. Hof plan is unacceptable.”
Satterfield later visited Prime Minister Saad Hariri and held another meeting with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil.
Lebanese Foreign Ministry sources told Arab News that “what is being said about a US proposal to share the disputed block is inaccurate, and the issue is far more complicated.” The sources added that “the American side is trying to crystallize a new proposal regarding the area in which Israel claims to have rights.”
The source said that as well as rejecting the Hof line Lebanon still adheres to its claim to all the sovereign, oil and gas rights of the area, but said the government was keeping an “open mind” to the US ideas being worked on.
The US company Noble Energy discovered in 2009 large oil and gas reserves in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean in the territorial waters of Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel. The area was divided into blocks.
Block 9 is located in the south and its next to the border of the Israeli territorial waters.
Lebanon sent documents and maps proving its ownership of the area to the UN but Israel continued to dispute the boundary.
In Dec. 2017, Lebanon granted licenses for the exploration of oil in Blocks 4 and 9 for the French company Total, Italian ENI, and the Russian Novatek.
This angered Israel due to the sensitivity of the location of this block.
In 2012, Frederick Hof pledged that the US administration would convince Israel of the temporary solution that would not hinder the interest of the Israeli and Lebanese sides in starting to explore their gas and oil resources.
In 2013, the US sent US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Amos Hochstein to Lebanon to try to work out a formula for a compromise.
Hochstein proposed drawing a provisional blue maritime line keeping the disputed area along this line from the Lebanese and Israeli sides outside the exploration operations until a final demarcation agreement is reached.
In the meantime, investment in other undisputed areas could start within the context of the mutually agreed Blue Line understanding.
Hof gave another American proposal offering Lebanon 500 square km and Israel 360 square km. Lebanon agreed to take the 500 square km but refused to give up the 360 square km to Israel.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that the US must accept Lebanon’s demands over the border disputes with Israel and vowed it was ready to act against Israel if necessary, Reuters reported.
“The state must have a strong and firm position,” the leader of the Iran-backed movement said.
Satterfield had arrived in Beirut as part of the delegation traveling with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on his regional tour. But the diplomat stayed on after Tillerson left to work on a resolution to the dispute.
Satterfield, a former ambassador to Lebanon, was expected to travel to Israel for further talks.
Official sources told Arab News that Satterfield may return to Lebanon a second time after visiting Israel “if he carries constructive proposals.”
Lebanon speaker: US proposal on Lebanon-Israel disputed waters “unacceptable”
Lebanon speaker: US proposal on Lebanon-Israel disputed waters “unacceptable”
GCC leaders call for halt to war crimes in Gaza, end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- The leaders stressed their firm support for the Palestinian cause and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital
- The ‘Kuwait Declaration,’ issued at the 45th session of the GCC Supreme Council, praised the growing role of Gulf countries in addressing regional, global challenges
RIYADH: Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday called for an end to Israeli war crimes in Gaza, the displacement of the region’s population, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The leaders stressed their firm support during a meeting in Kuwait for the Palestinian cause and its sovereignty over all Palestinian territories occupied since June 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The “Kuwait Declaration,” which was issued at the 45th session of the Supreme Council of the GCC, praised the growing role of Gulf countries in addressing regional and global political, security, and economic challenges.
It also praised their contribution to resolving issues that threatened peace, security, and stability, and for enhancing international dialogue and communication between countries.
A statement said: “The Supreme Council called for an end to the killings and collective punishment in Gaza, the displacement of the population, and the destruction of civilian facilities and infrastructure, including health facilities, schools, and places of worship, in clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
GCC leaders also welcomed the resolutions of the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in November to enhance international action to stop the war on Gaza; achieve permanent and comprehensive peace; implement the two-state solution in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative; mobilize support for recognizing the State of Palestine; and lead the international coalition to implement the two-state solution.
They also praised Qatar’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and exchange detainees.
The leaders condemned continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon and warned against the expansion of the conflict in the region. They also welcomed the recently brokered ceasefire in the country.
The leaders also welcomed continued efforts made by Saudi Arabia and Oman to revive the political process in Yemen.
The leaders stressed the peaceful approach of GCC countries and their preference for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all disputes in the region and beyond, in accordance with the requirements of international law and the UN Charter.
US Navy destroys Houthi missiles and drones targeting American ships in Gulf of Aden
- The Houthis claimed the attack on merchant ships in a statement and said they had targeted the US destroyers
DUBAI: US Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi militants at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.
US Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.
The Houthis claimed the attack in a statement and said they had targeted the US destroyers and “three supply ships belonging to the American army in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”
Houthi attacks for months have targeted shipping through a waterway where $1 trillion in goods pass annually over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A ceasefire was announced in the latter last week.
The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on Nov. 12.
US, France, Germany, UK urge ‘de-escalation’ in Syria: joint statement
WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies France, Germany and Britain called Sunday for “de-escalation” in Syria and urged in a joint statement for the protection of civilians and infrastructure.
“The current escalation only underscores the urgent need for a Syrian-led political solution to the conflict, in line with UNSCR 2254,” read a statement issued by the US State Department, referencing the 2015 UN resolution that endorsed a peace process in Syria.
Britain ups Gaza aid ahead of donor conference
- Aid organizations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory
LONDON: Britain will provide an additional 19 million pounds ($24 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the international development minister said Monday, calling for Israel to give greater access ahead of a key conference on the conflict.
“Gazans are in desperate need of food, and shelter with the onset of winter,” the minister, Anneliese Dodds, said in a statement as she headed for a three-day visit to the region, including an international conference in Cairo Monday on the Gaza Strip’s aid needs.
“The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis,” she added.
“Israel must immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza.”
Aid organizations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory.
The new UK funding will be split into 12 million pounds for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and seven million pounds for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the statement said.
UNRWA announced Sunday it had halted the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of safety fears, saying the situation had become “impossible.”
Britain has committed to spending a total of 99 million pounds this year in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, the government said.
After Dodds’s Cairo stop, the minister is to travel to the Palestinian territories and Israel.
Islamist militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the death of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 44,429 in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Airstrikes in northwestern Syria kill 25 people, says Syria’s White Helmets
- The Syria offensive began Wednesday, the same day a truce between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah came into effect
DAMASCUS: The Syrian rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday on X that at least 25 people have been killed in northwestern Syria in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia on Sunday.
