Chairman of Hezbollah's Executive Council Hashem Safieddine. (Credit: Twitter/@AvichayAdraee)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s Executive Committee Chairman Hashem Safieddine on Wednesday criticized the United States mediator in the Lebanese-Israel maritime borders Amos Hochstein and said local authorities should not wait for his position on the matter.
Here’s what we know:
• "We must be strong and present in the equation, think about the future of the country, and not wait for someone else to tell us our position," Safieddine was quoted by the National News Agency as saying in a ceremony in Shamea, South Lebanon. "If we want to wait to see what Mr. Hochstein and the Americans are going to give Lebanon, we won't have gas or oil,” Safeddine also said, adding, "Lebanon will not be an economic paradise in the future, especially since the Americans do not want it.” He also accused Washington of "being concerned today only with the supply of gas and oil.”
• US State Department spokesman Ned Price announced on Monday that Amos Hochstein had spoken with Israeli officials last week regarding the maritime borders negotiations and considered it "a step forward with the aim of reducing the differences" point of view between the two countries. Hochstein visited Lebanon earlier this month in which Lebanese officials had communicated to him a new proposal to expand line 23 on the maritime borders in a way that includes the entire Qana maritime field which has prospects to have natural gas.
• Tensions rose between Lebanon and Israel after the latter deployed a production, storage and offloading vessel to the disputed Karish offshore gas field last month which led to the resumption of the maritime border negotiations.