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Lebanon Optimistic on Reaching Maritime Border Deal with Israel

A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
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Lebanon Optimistic on Reaching Maritime Border Deal with Israel

A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Friday there is more optimism than ever on reaching a deal to delineate the country's maritime border with Israel via US mediation, according to a tweet from the ministry's account.

"There has never been optimism to the extent that there is today," Bou Habib said, noting that the US official mediating the dispute, Amos Hochstein, would arrive in Beirut over the weekend for talks with Lebanese officials.

Lebanon and Israel are locked in US-mediated negotiations to delineate a shared maritime border that would help determine which oil and gas resources belong to which country and pave the way for more exploration.

Hochstein met Israeli negotiators in June and updated them on the results of a visit to Lebanon earlier that month, the Israeli energy ministry said at the time.

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Arab World

Celebrations Erupt in Lebanon over Gaza Ceasefire

A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Celebrations Erupt in Lebanon over Gaza Ceasefire

A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Celebrations erupted in several areas in Lebanon following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Many people flooded the streets in Palestinian refugee camps, as well as cities like Sidon in the south, Tripoli in the north and Beirut’s southern suburbs. People marched or rode motorcycles, honking in celebration while waving Hamas flags.
In some areas, nonstop shooting and fireworks rang out. Images circulated on social media showing several people wounded, with at least one killed, by stray bullets.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has strong ties to Hamas and had opened a support front on the day after Hamas’s attack Oct. 7, 2023, on Israel. This led to a 14-month war between Hezbollah and Israel, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on Nov. 27.
Hezbollah has not commented on the Gaza ceasefire.