Nasrallah: Until the agreement is signed, we must remain cautious

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The Lebanese maritime border demarcation has been very difficult during the past few days, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday.

"We are going through decisive times in the issue of border demarcation and the extraction of oil and gas," Sayyed Nasrallah underlined.

"We are awaiting an official statement from the Lebanese president and an official statement from the enemy's cabinet," he said. "The moment the delegations head to Naqoura to sign the deal in the agreed-upon mechanism, we can say we have an agreement or an understanding."

"Until the agreement is signed, we must remain cautious in light of the contradictory Israeli statements," he added, noting that the case will be closed for the resistance when the Lebanese president declares his position in support of the agreement.

"After the publication of the text, anyone can approach the agreement and its results with full responsibility and judge whether it is positive or negative," the Hezbollah chief stressed. "After the publication of the text, the agreement must be approached patriotically."

"Those who are satisfied with the agreement must approach the agreement objectively [...] we are before a new experience that saw the presidents and state officials collaborating, and which also received a lot of support from the resistance's public," Sayyed Nasrallah said.

"Lebanon will be able to attain this achievement at a time when no one cares about it or its obtaining of its rights," the Lebanese resistance leader said. "After the situation with the drones, we no longer had to send other ones or conduct drills, for the goal was to let the enemy know that the resistance is serious [about safeguarding Lebanon's rights]."

The Hezbollah leader then clarified that for the resistance, "our sea extends to Gaza [...] and when Palestine is liberated, we will have no disagreements with our Palestinian brothers regarding our maritime borders."

Worrying about corruption after the signing of the agreement is understandable, he added. "This is mainly the jurisdiction of Parliament."

"You will adhere to your preparedness, alertness, and measures until we see with the naked eyes that the agreement has been signed and until we live to see another day after the agreement," Sayyed Nasrallah said.

The Lebanese presidency confirmed today that "the final version of the southern maritime borders agreement is satisfactory and meets the Lebanese demands".

The presidency pointed out through its Twitter account that it received the official final amended version submitted by US mediator Amos Hochstein of the southern maritime borders agreement, stressing that "the final version preserved Lebanon's rights to its natural wealth during an important time for the Lebanese."

This comes after the company working in the Karish rig, Energean, released a statement on Sunday announcing that it has launched the testing process of the rig; however, "Israel" told the US that the injections are merely a test and that oil production will not happen today in a clear attempt to relay a message to Hezbollah that it has not yet crossed the red lines.

Israeli media has lately said that the Lebanese maritime border agreement strengthens Hezbollah's position inside Lebanon, stressing that Hezbollah has once again proven that it can achieve its political and strategic goals in Lebanon and the region thanks to its military strength that cannot be dissuaded or weakened.

West Bank resists

Sayyed Nasrallah also commented on the events taking place in the occupied West Bank, saying what is going on there "is shocking the enemy, its entity, and all of its political forces."

"The resistance carried out various actions that the Israelis saw, acknowledged, and heard," which undermined "Israel". "The resistance in the West Bank needs all sorts of political, media, and popular solidarity."

"The resistance in the West Bank needs support and has the ability to change the status quo. Many people count on it," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "Hamas' decision to bolster its ties with Syria is brave, wise, and sound."

"The decision of rapprochement between Hamas and Syria at heart brought together the Axis of Resistance's governments, armies, movements, and factions," Sayyed Nasrallah underlined.