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Lebanon Mulls Response to US-mediated Maritime Border Proposal

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meets with U.S. Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 9, 2022. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meets with U.S. Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 9, 2022. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
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Lebanon Mulls Response to US-mediated Maritime Border Proposal

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meets with U.S. Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 9, 2022. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meets with U.S. Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 9, 2022. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS

Lebanon leaders are holding a meeting Monday to discuss a US proposal to demarcate the maritime border with Israel -- a step that could allow both countries to explore offshore resources.

Lebanon said it had received Saturday a written "offer" from US envoy Amos Hochstein - who is mediating talks between the two enemy states - on a proposal to demarcate the maritime border with Israel.

The offer was not make public, but it raised hopes that a deal would soon emerge after years of negotiations, as cash-strapped Lebanon eyes potential gas resources in the maritime border area.

The US ambassador to Lebanon handed the offer to President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, who represent Lebanon's three major sects.

Aoun will meet Berri and Mikati at 3pm local time to discuss Lebanon's "official response to the offer", according to the National News Agency.

A technical team that includes army representatives will meet at 1pm at the presidential palace.

The most recent proposal was greeted by Israel.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the bid "strengthens Israel's security and Israel's economy".

Lapid appeared to float an arrangement whereby gas would be produced by a company under a Lebanese license in the disputed Qana prospect, with Israel receiving a share of revenues.

"We have no opposition to an additional Lebanese gas field being developed, from which we would of course receive royalties due us," he said. "Such a field would weaken Lebanese dependency on Iran, restrain Hezbollah and bring regional stability."

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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.
Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circled overhead while the sound of sporadic firing could be heard in the city, said Reuters.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
The operation, which Israel says was mounted to block Iranian-backed militant groups from attacking its citizens, has drawn international calls for a halt.
At least 19 Palestinians, including armed fighters and civilians, have now been killed since it began. The Israeli military said on Saturday a soldier had been killed during the fighting in the West Bank.
The Israeli forces were battling Palestinian fighters from armed factions that have long had a strong presence in Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp, a densely populated township housing families driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war around the creation of Israel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday a child had been taken to hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.
The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank takes place as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas group still rages in the coastal Gaza Strip nearly 11 months since it began, and hostilities with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in the Israel-Lebanon border area have intensified.
Late on Friday, Israeli forces said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank settlement cluster located south of Jerusalem, that the military assessed were both attempted attacks on Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded at a petrol station in what the army said was an attempted car bombing attack. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers.
In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car attempted to ram a security guard and infiltrate the Karmei Tzur settlement. The car was chased by security forces and crashed and an explosive device in it was detonated, the military said in a statement.
The two deaths were confirmed by Palestinian health authorities but they gave no details on how they died.
Troops combed the area following the two incidents. Security forces also carried out raids in the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.
Hamas praised what it called a "double heroic operation" in the West Bank. It said in a statement it was "a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation's aggression and targeting of our people and land continue".
The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.
Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday Israel would step up defensive measures as well as offensive actions like the Jenin operation.
Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs have ploughed up large stretches of paved roads and water pipes have been damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel last October that triggered the Gaza war, at least 660 Palestinian combatants and civilians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian tallies, some by Israeli troops and some by Jewish settlers who have carried out frequent attacks on Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran provides weapons and support to militant factions in the West Bank - under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war - and the military has as a result cranked up its operations there.