Lebanon warns "Israel" against encroachment on its resources

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun discussed Today with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati the issue of the entry of the Energean Power vessel into the disputed maritime area with "Israel", noting that any activity in that area currently constitutes a "hostile act."

The Lebanese presidency issued a statement, in which it said that Aoun discussed with Mikati "the entry of the Energean Power vessel into the disputed maritime area with "Israel" and asked the army command to provide it with "accurate and official data to build on the matter."

President Aoun said that "Negotiations to demarcate the southern maritime borders are still ongoing, and any action or activity in the disputed area constitutes a provocation and a hostile act."

Mikati: Enemy's encroachment on Lebanon's water wealth is extremely dangerous

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Sunday, that "the Israeli enemy's attempts to create a new crisis, by encroaching on Lebanon's water wealth, and imposing a fait accompli in a disputed area in which Lebanon adheres to its rights, is extremely dangerous, and would cause unimaginable tensions," he added "nobody can guess its repercussions."

Mikati warned of the "repercussions of any incomplete step, before completing the mission of the American mediator, whose resumption has become more than an urgent necessity," calling: "the United Nations and all concerned to remedy the situation and compel the Israeli enemy to stop its provocations."

The caretaker PM concluded: "The solution is to return to negotiations on the basis of not giving up Lebanon's full rights to its wealth and water."

Mikati's statement came after the new European ship "Energean Power", which was built specifically for the Karish field, located off the southern Lebanese coast with Palestine, crossed the Suez Canal. The ship has been set on its way from the port of Singapore to the shore of the Palestinian village of Tantura.

Earlier on Friday, the Suez Canal Authority announced: "the success of the first crossing of its kind in the history of the canal of a floating unit for the production, processing, and storage of liquefied natural gas (FPSO) by crossing the world's newest unit, Energean Power, within the convoy of the south."

The ship crossed the canal supported through the towing and guiding of four tugs belonging to the Suez Canal Authority. This is the vessel's first sea voyage after its launch in Singapore heading to the Mediterranean.