Lebanon Reviews Means to Confront Israel’s Oil Exploration in Disputed Area

 Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib met on Tuesday at the Baabda Palace to discuss Israel’s oil exploration project. (Photo: Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib met on Tuesday at the Baabda Palace to discuss Israel’s oil exploration project. (Photo: Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanon Reviews Means to Confront Israel’s Oil Exploration in Disputed Area

 Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib met on Tuesday at the Baabda Palace to discuss Israel’s oil exploration project. (Photo: Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib met on Tuesday at the Baabda Palace to discuss Israel’s oil exploration project. (Photo: Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib discussed in a meeting on Tuesday the means to confront Israel’s decision to explore oil in the disputed maritime area.

In a statement, the Lebanese Presidency said that the meeting reviewed recent developments, following Israel’s announcement that it granted a US oilfield services group an offshore drilling contract in the Mediterranean.

The Lebanese officials discussed the repercussions of the Israeli move and the measures that Lebanon will take following a letter sent to the United Nations in this regard.

Presidential sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Lebanon was seeking to conduct the necessary studies to ascertain whether the exploration would be carried out in the disputed area, through a mediator such as the United Nations, and then work on the subsequent steps and procedures.

As the negotiations on the demarcation of the border between Lebanon and Israel stalled due to a dispute over maps, US Halliburton Company announced last week that it has been awarded an integrated services contract to execute a three to five well drilling and completions campaign for Greek Energean company.

“We will not back down on this issue or give up on Lebanese rights,” Mikati said in a statement following the announcement.

Lebanon’s representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Amal Mudallali, submitted a letter to the UN on this matter, in which the country called on the Security Council to ensure that the drilling evaluation work does not take place in a disputed area in order to avoid any attack on Lebanon’s rights and sovereignty.



IOM Chief Says Cannot Replace UNRWA but Keen to Step up Support

A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)
A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)
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IOM Chief Says Cannot Replace UNRWA but Keen to Step up Support

A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)
A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis town southern Gaza Strip, 23 October 2024. (EPA)

The head of the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday that the agency was keen to step up its support to people in crisis following the Israeli decision to ban the UN relief agency UNRWA but there was "no way" it can replace its work in Gaza.

"UNRWA is absolutely essential to the people of Gaza, and I don't want to leave anyone with the misimpression that IOM can play that role, because we cannot, but we can provide support to those people who are currently in crisis," IOM Director-General Amy Pope told reporters.

"That is a role that we are very, very keen to play, and one that we will be stepping up with the support of various stakeholders."