An Israeli navy vessel is pictured off the coast close to the border between Israel and Lebanon on Monday. Tensioned flared between the two nations after a new Israeli gas drilling rig entered the disputed maritime borders, in a move the Lebanese labelled as an act of aggression and a provocation. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Hezbollah is ready to take action “including force” against Israeli gas operations in disputed waters once the Lebanese government adopts a clearer policy, the party’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem told Reuters yesterday. His comments came a day after Israel moved a floating production, also known as a storage and offloading unit, from the London-based Energean Power company to the Karish natural gas field, which is disputed between Israel and Lebanon, provoking indignant reactions from Lebanese officials across the political spectrum, including Lebanon’s 13 opposition MPs. In a press conference yesterday, MP Melhem Khalaf, speaking on behalf of the so-called “forces of change” MPs, called on the executive authority to “instantaneously and without any stalling … amend Decree No. 6433 of 2011 and affirm Line 29 instead of 23.” Line 29, which Lebanon is disputing, adds 1,430 square kilometers to the country’s maritime borders, partially encompassing the Karish field. Khalaf also stressed that an objection letter should be sent to the UN secretary-general as well as a formal complaint to the UN Security Council against Israel for giving it the permission to extract gas from the disputed field, “which subjects the international peace and security to danger.” Earlier in the day, both Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati agreed to invite the Amos Hochstein, the US mediator of Lebanon’s maritime border negotiations with Israel, to Beirut, “to discuss proceeding with the maritime border negotiations in the south … as fast as possible.” Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz insisted the issue be resolved diplomatically with US mediation. Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel have been suspended for months. Lebanon intends to reach an agreement that could unlock valuable gas reserves to lighten its worst financial crisis in modern history.
The Lebanese government has been officially notified of a US civil suit in which two US-based plaintiffs allege Free Patriotic Movement leader and MP Gebran Bassil and former Justice Minister and current caretaker Labor Minister Salim Jreissati conspired to kidnap and torture them. According to Daraj, the complaint was delivered to the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the US Embassy on May 17 and will be sent to the Supreme Judicial Council after which it will make its way to to the lower courts with jurisdiction over the defendants’ places of residence, a process that could take three months from the date of the complaint’s arrival. The Florida-based plaintiffs, Elie and Lara Samaha, allege that Bassil and Jreissati collaborated with relatives of Lara Samaha who sought to deprive her of a hefty inheritance, claiming that the relatives lured them to Lebanon where they they say they were detained by the Lebanese government in harsh conditions in an ultimately successful bid to force them to drop their lawsuits to reinstate the inheritance. Subsequently, a US court ruled that they were coerced into dismissing their own suits, before reinstating them. The notification from the US embassy to the Lebanese government is crucial because if the defendants do not respond to the suit after being formally notified of it, they risk a judgment in absentia being issued against them.
Gunfire resounded in the al-Sharawneh neighborhood in Baalbeck again yesterday as clashes erupted for the fourth consecutive day between the Lebanese Army and wanted convicts. “Abou Salle,” a drug dealer who is also involved in car theft and weapons trade, remained on the loose on Monday after he evaded arrest during an army raid in al-Sharawneh on Friday, a Lebanese Army spokesperson confirmed to L’Orient Today. Friday’s raid lasted for hours, resulting in armed clashes between the army and wanted convicts, leading to one soldier’s death; five others were injured. On Sunday, two more soldiers were injured during another raid in the same neighborhood, while 12 people were arrested, weaponry was confiscated and the army took control of a local drug factory. The spokesperson for the army also told L’Orient Today yesterday that one of the soldiers who was injured on Friday is currently in critical condition.
Parliament is scheduled to convene this morning at 11 a.m. to elect parliamentary committee members. This is the second session of Lebanon’s newly elected legislature, which convened last week to elect a speaker and deputy speaker. President Michel Aoun is reportedly awaiting the outcome of committee elections before proceeding with parliamentary bloc consultations to appoint a prime minister-designate tasked with forming a new government.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Parliamentary committees and consultations: A busy week ahead.”