At the request of the highest authorities, Hochstein will spend two days mediating in the demarcation of the border with Israel in order to maintain stability in the region.
According to a report by the National Agency for News, the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, and the Acting Prime Minister, Najib Miqati, have returned in the last few hours to deepen the Lebanese position on the southern sea zone issue.
A joint delegation from the Lebanese People’s Congress and the Sons of Al-Arqoub Association took part in a sit-in in Naqoura on Lebanon’s southern maritime border yesterday to stress compliance with the country’s right to its water resources.
The protesters called on the Lebanese state to demarcate the Southern Economic Zone according to the line drawn by the Army Hydrographic Authority, known as Line 29.
A bill presented last week at the initiative of MP Hassan Murad would see the nation’s territorial boundaries amended on an additional 1,430 square kilometers of southern sea territory protected by defenses of national sovereignty.
Tensions between the two countries increased over the past eight days when a platform from the Energean Power production unit, which serves Tel Aviv, reached the Karish gas field, located in the southern zone between Lebanon and occupied Palestine.
Hezbollah (Party of God) Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah reiterated the resistance’s financial, military and security capabilities to prevent Israel’s exploration of Lebanon’s riches.
He called on the highest figures of the state, parliament and government to unify the official position, assuring that the nation of cedars in this confrontation has the right, the motive, the greatest need and the strength under the title of army and resistance.
Lebanon and Israel have no diplomatic ties, and since the 2006 conflict, United Nations forces have kept calm on their shared southern border.
Over sea borders, the two nations resumed talks in 2020, but the process was put on hold after Lebanese officials asked that the map used by the United Nations in the talks be updated.
jf/yma