Lebanon’s Aoun hopeful of maritime deal with Israel ‘within days’

By Yaqout Dandashi

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA) – Lebanese President Michel Aoun voiced hope on Monday of finalizing a maritime border demarcation deal with Israel within days.

Aoun made the statement while meeting with the Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia, Patriarch Raphael Pedros XXI Minassian, in the capital Beirut.

"We hope to finalize all arrangements related to the demarcation of the southern maritime borders in few days after the indirect negotiations have gone a long way,” Aoun said.

“Reaching an agreement on the demarcation of the southern maritime borders means the start of the process of exploration for oil and gas in the Lebanese fields located within the exclusive economic zone, which will achieve the beginning of a new impetus for the process of economic revival,” he added.

On Sunday, the Lebanese Presidency said that US mediator Amos Hochstein will submit a final version of the deal in the coming hours.

Last week, Hochstein handed a draft proposal for a maritime deal to Lebanon and Israel, but both sides proposed changes to the draft.

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

The area is rich in natural gas and oil. Starting in 2020, five sessions of indirect negotiations have been held on the issue under UN sponsorship and US mediation, with the latest round held in May 2021.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar