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Lebanon Asks US to Mediate Demarcation of Maritime Border with Israel

Bassil visited Berri on Friday (NNA)
Bassil visited Berri on Friday (NNA)
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Lebanon Asks US to Mediate Demarcation of Maritime Border with Israel

Bassil visited Berri on Friday (NNA)
Bassil visited Berri on Friday (NNA)

Lebanon renewed on Friday its request for US mediation in the demarcation of its maritime border with Israel to protect its rights in its Exclusive Economic Zone.

Such a request was initially made during US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Beirut a few months ago.

However, several question marks have been raised on Washington’s ability to carry out that role, and whether it would task Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfiled to complete his mission after several Lebanese officials expressed reservations on dealing with him, accusing him of being biased to Israel.

An official aware of the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that it was still early to predict whether the US would play the role of the “the honest mediator.”

However, the official said that Washington would definitely take into consideration security concerns, knowing that Lebanon would react against any Israeli aggression on its offshore resources.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh to discuss ideas presented a day earlier by President Michel Aoun to US Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard on Beirut’s maritime border dispute with Israel.

"We coordinated such position in order to preserve our rights in the sea and on land," the FM said.

According to the official, Richard heard a unified position concerning Lebanon’s maritime border demarcation proposal.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Beirut has demanded that Israel recognizes Lebanon’s maritime rights on its Exclusive Economic Zone, and not just the Hoff line, which calls for Lebanon to acquire 550 square kilometers of a disputed triangular area, and consider the rest as part of Israeli territorial waters.

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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)

Israel’s insistence that France can not be a member of the international committee that will monitor a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon is due to a series of French practices that have disturbed Israel recently, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed.
These practices are most notably attributed to the French judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, who has joined other judges to unanimously issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the sources revealed.
“The Israeli government is following with concern the French role at The Hague,” they said, noting that veteran French lawyer Gilles Devers led a team of 300 international lawyers of various nationalities who volunteered to accuse Israel of “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
According to the Israeli Maariv newspaper, Israeli officials believe that Devers, who signed the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Galant, would not have dared to do so without having received a green light from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Israeli sources also mentioned other reasons for Israel’s anger at France, such as the government’s decision to bar Israeli firms from exhibiting at the Euronaval arms show near Paris earlier this month.
French officials have repeatedly said that Paris is committed to Israel's security and point out that its military helped defend Israel after Iranian attacks in April and earlier this month.
Paris has so far also refused to recognize the Palestinian state. But the Israeli government is not satisfied. It wants France to follow the United States and blindly support its war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Tel Aviv also feels incredibly confident that France should be punished, and therefore, decided that Paris could not participate in the Lebanese ceasefire agreement, knowing that the Israeli government itself has traveled to Paris several times begging for its intervention, especially during the war on Lebanon.
Meanwhile, an air of optimism has emerged in Israel around the chances for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon following negotiations led by US envoy Amos Hochstein.
But any optimism relies on Netanyahu’s final decision. The PM is still conducting talks with his friends and allies of the far right who reject the ceasefire agreement and instead, demand that Lebanese citizens not be allowed to return to their villages on the border with Israel. They also request that a security belt be turned into a permanently depopulated and mined zone.
Hochstein Talks
Meanwhile, political sources in Israel claim that what is holding up a ceasefire deal so far is Lebanon. According to Israel's Channel 12, Hochstein expressed a “firm stance” during his talks with the Lebanese side. The envoy delivered clear terms that were passed on to Hezbollah, which the channel said “led to significant progress” in the talks.
Israeli officials said that Tel Aviv is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with Hezbollah in the coming days.
The channel said that during his late visit to Tel Aviv, coming from Beirut after talks with Speaker Nabih Barri, Hochstein said, “I placed before them (Lebanese officials) a final warning, and it seems to have been effective.”
Iran Obstacle
Despite the “positive atmosphere,” informed diplomatic sources pointed to a major obstacle: Iran.
Channel 12 quoted the sources as saying that Lebanon has not yet received the final approval required from Iran, which has significant influence over Hezbollah.

According to the draft proposal, the Lebanese Army must be redeployed to the south and carry out a comprehensive operation to remove weapons from villages. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will “supervise and monitor the implementation of the operation.”
Channel 12 said Israel believes that such details could still derail the agreement. It also said that Hezbollah could violate the truce.
“In such cases, Israel would have to conduct military operations inside the Lebanese territory,” the channel reported, adding that “one of the unsettled issues is related to the committee that will oversee the implementation of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”
The sources said Tel Aviv “insists that France is not part of the agreement, nor part of the committee that will oversee its implementation.”