A UN ship pictured off the coast of Naqoura, on the border with Israel, on Oct. 14, 2020. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s “Loyalty to the Resistance” parliamentary bloc issued a statement on Thursday, saying it was the Lebanese government’s “responsibility to remain vigilant against traps set by US envoy Amos Hochstein” during the negotiations on the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• The statement issued after the parliamentary bloc’s weekly meetings warned of “signs and omens” spread by the US envoy that would “impose a status quo in which normalization of relations with the Zionist enemy could occur” through “mechanisms and arrangements” supposedly promoted by Hochstein.
• During a speech broadcast on Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah did not comment on the maritime border negotiations.
• Hochstein arrived for a two-day visit to Lebanon on Feb. 8 to mediate talks on maritime border divisions for offshore hydrocarbon exploitation after which he expressed “optimism.”
• Talks between Lebanon and Israel on the disputed area of 860 square kilometers shared between the two countries began in October 2020. The Hof line, named after American diplomat Frederic Hof who mediated talks between 2010 and 2012, gave Lebanon 55 percent of this area compared to 45 percent to Israel.
• Lebanon then raised the stakes during the negotiations, demanding an additional 1,430 square kilometer area in the delimitation of the maritime border with Israel, but these talks were eventually suspended in December 2020.
• In Dec. 2021, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, contested Lebanon’s call to issue hydrocarbon exploration licenses in the eight remaining blocs of its exclusive economic zone.
