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Lebanon, Israel Start Talks on Disputed Maritime Border

United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) vehicles patrol the coastal road to Naqoura, the southernmost Lebanese town by the border with Israel, on October 13, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) vehicles patrol the coastal road to Naqoura, the southernmost Lebanese town by the border with Israel, on October 13, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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Lebanon, Israel Start Talks on Disputed Maritime Border

United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) vehicles patrol the coastal road to Naqoura, the southernmost Lebanese town by the border with Israel, on October 13, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) vehicles patrol the coastal road to Naqoura, the southernmost Lebanese town by the border with Israel, on October 13, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

Lebanon and Israel met on Wednesday for unprecedented and indirect talks on their disputed maritime border.

The talks, at the United Nations base in Naqoura on the land border between the two countries, were mediated by the United States which has pushed for three years for negotiations to resolve the argument over potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters.

Two Lebanese military helicopters were seen bringing the Lebanese delegation to the meeting. The Lebanese team was expected to be led by a military officer, and the Israeli side by the director general of its energy ministry.

Hezbollah and its ally Amal movement criticized the delegation, calling for changing the team hours before the first meeting.

In an overnight statement, Hezbollah and Amal, Lebanon's two main Shiite parties, said the negotiating team must include only military officials, without any civilians or politicians.

"The two demand immediately rowing back from this decision and re-forming the delegation in line with the framework agreement," it said.

Hezbollah has said the talks did not signal peace-making with long-time enemy Israel. The two last fought a deadly month-long war in 2006.

The Naqoura talks, which will focus exclusively on the disputed sea frontier, come at a sensitive time as Lebanon, battered by multiple crises, hopes to continue exploring for oil and gas in a part of the Mediterranean also claimed by Israel.

US envoy David Schenker will facilitate the opening session along with US ambassador to Algeria John Desrocher, who will mediate in the talks.

Israel has said that there will be "direct negotiations", something Lebanese officials have denied.

It is expected the two delegations will be sitting in the same hall.

The Israeli delegation is led by the director-general of the Energy Ministry, Udi Adiri, while the Lebanese four-member team is led by Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassin, the army’s deputy chief of staff.

The Lebanese team met President Michel Aoun on Tuesday who stressed the talks “are technical negotiations that only deal with marking the maritime border.”

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HRW: Both Warring Parties in Sudan Acquired New Weapons

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
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HRW: Both Warring Parties in Sudan Acquired New Weapons

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)

Both warring parties in Sudan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have newly acquired modern foreign-made weapons and military equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Monday.

It called on the UN Security Council to renew and expand the arms embargo and its restrictions on the Darfur region to all of Sudan and hold violators to account.

HRW said it analyzed 49 photos and videos, most apparently filmed by fighters from both sides, posted on the social media platforms Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and X, showing weapons used or captured in the conflict.

The apparently new equipment includes armed drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launchers, and mortar munitions, and are produced by companies registered in China, Iran, Russia and Serbia.

Although HRW did not specify how the warring parties acquired the new equipment, it noted that the Sudan conflict is one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

“The warring parties are committing atrocities with impunity, and the newly acquired weapons and equipment are likely to be used in the commission of further crimes,” it said.

HRW warned that the SAF and the RSF may use such weapons and equipment to continue to commit war crimes and other serious human rights violations not just in Darfur, but across the country.

It said the UN Security Council is expected to decide on September 11 whether to renew the Sudan sanctions regime, which prohibits the transfer of military equipment to the Darfur region.

The organization noted that since April 2023, the new conflict has affected most of Sudan’s states, but Security Council members have yet to take steps to expand the arms embargo to the whole country.

HRW said its findings demonstrate both the inadequacy of the current Darfur-only embargo and the grave risks posed by the acquisition of new weapons by the warring parties.

“A countrywide arms embargo would contribute to addressing these issues by facilitating the monitoring of transfers to Darfur and preventing the legal acquisition of weapons for use in other parts of Sudan,” it stressed.

The NGO said that the Sudanese government has opposed an expansion of the arms embargo and in recent months has lobbied members of the Security Council to end the sanctions regime and remove the Darfur embargo altogether.

“The prevalence of atrocities by the warring parties creates a real risk that weapons or equipment acquired by the parties would most likely be used to perpetuate serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law, harming civilians,” HRW wrote in its report.

It therefore called on the Security Council to publicly condemn individual governments that are violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur and take urgently needed measures to sanction individuals and entities that are violating the embargo.