Lebanese president signs maritime border demarcation deal

By Wassim Seif El Din

BEIRUT (AA) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday signed the maritime border demarcation deal with Israel mediated by the United States.

Deputy Speaker and chief Lebanese negotiator Elias Bou Saab said in a press conference that Aoun signed a letter relating to the demarcation of Lebanon's southern maritime boundary.

He added that a Lebanese delegation will hand the US mediator Amos Hochstein the letter signed by Aoun in the UN headquarters in southern Lebanon.

He further said another letter will be sent to the UN by the Foreign Ministry.

On Oct. 13, Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced accepting the US-mediated proposal for the maritime border demarcation.

Israel and Lebanon have been locked in a dispute over a maritime area of 860 square kilometers (332 square miles) rich in gas and oil, according to maps sent by both countries to the UN in 2011.

Negotiations over the territory in the Mediterranean Sea, which contain part of the Karish gas field and Qana, a prospective gas field, have been ongoing since 2020.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara