Lebanon rejects Israeli threats amid tensions over maritime border dispute

By Wassim Seif El Din
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Monday his country rejects Israeli threats amid tensions over a maritime border dispute between Beirut and Tel Aviv.
Israel "is acting in contravention of international laws and resolutions, taking advantage of the international community's silence on its violations of Security Council resolutions,” Aoun said during a meeting with a Lebanese parliamentary delegation.
The Lebanese leader stressed that Beirut will not abandon its "rights to invest its gas and oil wealth."
Aoun voiced hope that US mediator Amos Hochstein will move forward the indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.
On Sunday, Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi warned Lebanon of an “overwhelming force” in any potential war, adding that Israel has located thousands of targets in Lebanon to be hit in the event of a war between them.
Lebanon and Israel are engaged in a dispute over a maritime area that is 860 square kilometers (332 square miles), according to maps sent by both counties to the UN in 2011.
The area is rich in natural gas and oil. Five sessions of indirect negotiations were held between Lebanon and Israel under UN sponsorship and US mediation. The last round of talks was in May 2021 but it was stuck because of major differences.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar