‘Massive’ Progress Made in Lebanese-Israeli Maritime Border Deal

A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra shows Lebanon's President Michel Aoun (C), Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C R), and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (C L) meeting with US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (5th L) and US ambassador Dorothy Shea (4th L) at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital on August 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra shows Lebanon's President Michel Aoun (C), Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C R), and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (C L) meeting with US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (5th L) and US ambassador Dorothy Shea (4th L) at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital on August 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
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‘Massive’ Progress Made in Lebanese-Israeli Maritime Border Deal

A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra shows Lebanon's President Michel Aoun (C), Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C R), and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (C L) meeting with US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (5th L) and US ambassador Dorothy Shea (4th L) at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital on August 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra shows Lebanon's President Michel Aoun (C), Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C R), and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (C L) meeting with US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (5th L) and US ambassador Dorothy Shea (4th L) at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital on August 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)

The US mediation in the maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel made a new breakthrough on Monday.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib described it as "massive progress" that has yet to reach a final agreement that would lead to the resumption of indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel at al-Naqoura.

The negotiations will not be resumed before the agreement is reached and before the US mediator, Amos Hochstein, returns to the region.

The envoy has been pressing efforts to clinch a rare agreement between enemy states that should allow both to develop offshore resources.

Hochstein had arrived in Lebanon on a two-day visit for talks over the maritime dispute.

On Monday, he met with President Michel Aoun, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the presidential palace in Baabda.

He presented the Israeli response to the Lebanese offer made in June over the border.

The envoy said he remained optimistic about making progress towards a deal and looked forward to returning to the region to make a "final arrangement".

"I remain optimistic that we can make continuous progress as we have over the last several weeks and I look forward to being able to come back to the region to make the final arrangement," Hochstein said.

Ahead of the meeting, Aoun had stressed that the negotiations aim to preserve Lebanon’s right and natural resources.

After the talks, Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Lebanese officials sensed "seriousness" this time in the negotiations.

He revealed that Hochstein did not make any new offers, "but we discussed solutions that were already on the table."

He said he informed the American delegation that Lebanon is "insistent" on demarcating the border that is key to the solutions.

His remarks are a reference to Israeli proposals that called for dividing the oil wealth according to a framework agreed by both parties.

Berri revealed that Hochstein pledged to return to Lebanon with Israel’s reply within two weeks.

Mikati did not make a statement after the Baabda meeting, but only gave a thumbs up.

Deputy parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab, who was also at the talks, said: "The atmosphere is positive and the gap of disagreements in this field is narrowing,"

Hochstein is expected to return to Beirut in a "short time," he added, hoping that the outcome of the meeting will materialize in the coming weeks.

He revealed that "no one demanded that blocks be seized or that pipelines be extended. Lebanon demanded its entire blocks. It has not changed its position."

"Hochstein did not offer us any sharing of wealth or blocs or profits with the Israeli enemy," added Bou Saab.

The Lebanese Iran-backed Hezbollah party has threatened military action if Lebanon is prevented from exploiting what it deems to be its offshore rights. But it has also said it will respect the decision of the Lebanese government.

On Sunday, Hezbollah aired drone footage of Israeli ships in a disputed gas field in the Mediterranean Sea, highlighting the tension at the center of the border talks.

Lebanon claims the Karish gas field is disputed territory under ongoing maritime border negotiations, whereas Israel says it lies within its internationally recognized economic waters.

Later Monday, Hochstein told the local LBC TV station, when asked about Hezbollah's recent activities, that the best and only way "to achieve a resolution to this long-lasting dispute is through the negotiating table and through diplomacy."

He warned that anything else "has the risk of causing some miscalculated harm to those negotiations and end them."

The United States in 2020 stepped up long-running efforts to mediate an agreement. Tensions over the issue escalated in June as Israel moved towards extracting hydrocarbons while Lebanon's exploration process remained paused.

Lebanon and Israel are located in the Levant Basin, where a number of big sub-sea gas fields have been discovered since 2009. Israel already produces and exports gas.



Lebanon's Salam Calls for 'Full Israeli Withdrawal' while Visiting Border Areas

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
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Lebanon's Salam Calls for 'Full Israeli Withdrawal' while Visiting Border Areas

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Lebanon’s new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, used a tour on Friday of areas near the border with Israel that suffered wide destruction during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war to call for an Israeli withdrawal and promised residents of border villages a safe return to their homes and reconstruction.
Salam's visit came two days after his government won a vote of confidence in parliament.
“This is the first real working day of the government. We salute the army and its martyrs,” Salam said in the southern port city of Tyre while meeting residents of the border village of Dheira. “We promise you a safe return to your homes as soon as possible.”
The government is committed to the reconstruction of destroyed homes, which “is not a promise but a personal commitment by myself and the government,” Salam added.
Israel withdrew its troops from much of the border area earlier this month, but left five outlooking posts inside Lebanon, in what Lebanese officials called a violation of the US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on Nov. 27, ending the war.
Salam said his government is gathering Arab and international support in order “to force the enemy to withdraw from our occupied lands and the so-called five points.”
“There is no real and lasting stability without full Israeli withdrawal,” he said.
During his tour, Salam -- who also visited the southern cities of Marjayoun and Nabatiyeh — praised the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL.
In mid-February, UNIFIL’s outgoing deputy commander was injured when Hezbollah-linked protesters attacked a convoy taking peacekeepers to the Beirut airport.
On Friday, three judicial officials told The Associated Press that 26 people have been charged in the attack on UNIFIL, including five who are in detention and the rest remain at large.
The officials said 26 have were charged late Thursday by the Military Court’s Government Commissioner Judge Fadi Akiki with terrorism, undermining state authority, robbery and forming a gang to carry out evil acts. The judicial officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said those charged could get up to life in prison.
The officials also said that a bag was stolen from UNIFIL’s convoy that had about $30,000 in cash and that the money is still missing.