Beirut / Stephanie Rady / Anatolia
The Secretary-General of the Lebanese “Hezbollah” group, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Friday that if his country does not obtain its rights to demarcate the maritime borders that it demands, “they are going to escalate.”
This came during a televised speech at the celebration of laying the foundation stone for the “Jihadi Tourist Teacher of Janta” in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, which was reported by local media.
In early August, a high-ranking Lebanese source told Anadolu Agency that Beirut confirmed to the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, its adherence to the 23rd border line and the entire Qana oil field, and its refusal to share gas extraction and its revenues with Israel.
Nasrallah stressed that “the issue of demarcating the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel and the Karish field has nothing to do with the nuclear agreement (with Iran), neither from near nor from afar, whether it is signed once more or not.”
Diplomats from Iran, the United States and 5 countries (China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany) have been negotiating for months in Vienna on a deal to restore Tehran’s commitment to restrictions on its nuclear program, in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In May 2018, former US President Donald Trump reinstated sanctions on Tehran, following announcing his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement concluded under his predecessor Barack Obama.
Nasrallah added: “If the American mediator comes and gives the Lebanese state what it demands, they will go for calm.”
And he added: “If the state is not given what it demands, we are going to escalate.”
Lebanon and Israel dispute over a sea area of 860 square kilometers, which is rich in oil and gas, and previously engaged in indirect negotiations to demarcate the borders, mediated by the United States and under the auspices of the United Nations.
And between October 2020 and May 2021, the two sides held five rounds of talks at the United Nations headquarters in the Naqoura region in southern Lebanon, but they were later frozen due to fundamental differences.
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