US Envoy to Visit Beirut for Talks over Lebanon Maritime Border with ‘Israeli’ Occupation Entity

By Staff, Agencies

A senior US diplomat will visit Beirut next week to discuss the issue of Lebanon’s maritime border with the ‘Israeli’ occupying regime of Palestine, as tensions flare over the recent docking of an ‘Israeli’ oil drilling rig, a top Lebanese politician said Tuesday.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told a parliamentary session that US envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to travel to the country on Sunday or Monday.

The announcement came a day after Lebanon requested US mediation after the Energean gas rig – which is expected to drill gas for the Zionist occupation in the coming months – arrived at a disputed offshore field.

In response to Berri’s comments, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said there were no travel plans to announce.

“The ‘Israel’-Lebanon maritime border, that’s a decision for both ‘Israel’ and Lebanon to make,” Price noted, adding that the US believes that a deal is possible if both sides negotiate in good faith and realize the benefit to both.

The Tel Aviv regime and Lebanon have been holding indirect US-brokered talks for almost two years over the disputed maritime border.

Lebanon lashed out at the Zionist entity after the gas rig docked at the Karish natural gas field on Sunday.

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General His Eminence Sheikh Naim Qassem commented on the matter as saying: “We are ready to do our part in terms of pressure, deterrence, and use of appropriate means – including force.”