Israeli energy minister hopes Lebanon accepts maritime border accord
The Israeli occupation, after depriving Lebanon of its rights to its maritime resources, is hoping to reach a deal with Beirut without losing much of its access to Lebanon's gas fields.
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Energean working in the Karish oil field, offshore occupied Palestine, in 2020
The Israeli occupation, according to Energy Minister Karin Elharrar, hopes that an offer it made to Lebanon "successfully" brings to an end the indirect maritime border demarcation talks between Beirut and "Tel Aviv".
"We submitted a proposal, a good, serious proposal for Lebanon," that US mediator Amos Hochstein will present during his visit to Beirut on Sunday, Elharrar said.
The Israeli occupation has been depriving Lebanon of its right to much of its energy resources in the Mediterranean sea, as "Tel Aviv" claims that the Karish field falls under its "sovereignty" while Beirut argues otherwise. Meanwhile, Lebanon has been involved in US-mediated, indirect talks with the Israeli occupation on the matter since 2020.
Hochstein came to Beirut on Sunday with the aim of "discussing sustainable solutions to Lebanon's energy crisis, including the Biden Administration's commitment to facilitating negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on the maritime boundary," the United States Department of States said in a statement. "Reaching a resolution is both necessary and possible, but can only be done through negotiations and diplomacy."
Elharrar said she was hopeful that Lebanon would accept the Israeli proposal, though the latter has made it clear that it would not give up an inch of the gas fields that fall in its territorial waters.
The occupation's minister refused to share any details about the proposal, saying it could harm the indirect talks.
Israeli i24news reported Monday that officials in the Israeli security establishment told Lebanon through the US mediator that if "Hezbollah does not take control of its fighters, the Israeli army will respond."
Meanwhile, Walla! reported that the United States regards as highly important the indirect talks on the demarcation of the maritime borders in order to avoid a military escalation between the two parties, as well as to show Arab states that Washington has an influence on the region.
"If the United States is unable to reach a settlement before the [Karish] gas starts extracting gas in September, then the security situation will be assessed and in that framework, there will be talks about raising the level of alert in the North," Israeli occupation forces officials said.
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon military media unit published a video that displayed the coordinates of the Israeli occupation's gas rigs off the coasts of occupied Palestine in a clear message to "Tel Aviv".
The video was titled: "[You are] in our crosshair... stalling is not beneficial."
The video showed footage of the drillship and the floating production unit alongside information pertaining to the specifics of their geolocation, giving their coordinates and information regarding the origin and details of the ships at sea based on the flags they bear. Moreover, the video displayed the exact distance of each ship from Lebanese shores.
A military expert told Al Mayadeen that the video was published by the military media of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon and said that these scenes were captured with an advanced thermal camera.
The expert highlighted that "the video proves that the resistance does not need drones to take pictures of the occupation forces' naval vessels" and that the Israeli naval vessels were and still are in the Resistance's crosshairs and on its radars.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in mid-July that “when things reach a dead-end, we will not only stand in the face of Karish... Mark these words: we will reach Karish, beyond Karish, and beyond, beyond Karish."
He also warned the Israeli occupation against provoking Lebanon, telling "Tel Aviv" that there were no Israeli targets beyond the ranges of the resistance's missiles and highly-sophisticated drones.
"They went back and forth dozens of times."
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 27, 2022
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah on #Hezbollah's advanced long-range drones that can infiltrate "Israel". pic.twitter.com/mwHxnL89iF
