Lebanon Warns Against Any ’Israeli’ Aggression In Disputed Waters

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon warned the Zionist occupation entity against any “aggressive action” in the disputed waters where both sides hope to develop offshore energy, after a ship arrived off the coast to produce gas for the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said any activity in the disputed area would amount to an act of aggression and a provocation, after the arrival of the natural gas storage and production ship operated by London-based Energean.

In a statement on Sunday, the Lebanese presidency said Aoun discussed with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati the vessel’s entry “into the disputed maritime area with the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity, and asked the Army Command to provide him with accurate and official data to build upon the matter.”

Aoun said negotiations to delineate the southern maritime border continued and “any action or activity in the disputed area represents a provocation and an aggressive action.”

There was no immediate response from the Zionist regime to Aoun’s statement.

Energean said its floating production storage and offloading vessel arrived on Sunday at the Karish field, about 80 km west of the occupied Palestinian city of Haifa, in Palestine’s ‘Israeli’-occupied exclusive economic zone. The company said it planned to bring it online in the third quarter.

Mikati said ‘Israel’ was “encroaching on Lebanon’s maritime wealth, and imposing a fait accompli in a disputed area”, calling this “extremely dangerous.”

The United States began mediating indirect talks between the sides in 2000 to settle a long-running dispute between old foes that has obstructed energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

Lebanon is home to the well-equipped Hezbollah resistance movement which has previously warned the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity against drilling for oil and gas in the disputed area until the issue is resolved, and warned that it would take action if the Tel Aviv regime did so.

Although the Zionist occupation regime made claims at the United Nations regarding the maritime borders, Lebanon says its border cuts into the sea at an angle farther south and the occupation regime’s claim runs farther north, creating a triangle of disputed waters.