The Energean floating unit in the Karish field in the eastern Mediterranean, July 3, 2022. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Free Patriotic Movement head Gebran Bassil on Thursday announced a favorable view of Hezbollah’s role in the maritime border dispute with Israel, following a televised address by the party’s leader Hassan Nasrallah the day before, while Kataeb and Progressive Socialist Party heads Samy Gemayel and Samir Joumblatt criticized the party’s involvement.
Here’s what we know:
•“The resistance card is a strength for Lebanon if we know how to use it to delineate borders, extract resources and get our rights,” Bassil said. Nasrallah, the day before, said his party is “militarily and financially capable of preventing [Israel] from extracting [gas] from the disputed Karish field and all [Israel's] measures will not be capable of protecting its floating platform.”
•Kataeb head Samy Gemayel had a less favorable stance on the statement of Nasrallah, who according to Gemayel “declared [himself] head of state, government and army,” adding that the Hezbollah head is “dragging the Lebanese people to a new adventure for which they will unwillingly pay the price.”
•“Restoring sovereignty is the essential cause without which there cannot be a state,” Gemayel added.
•Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Jumblatt said Nasrallah's statement “limited the possibility of thinking about a compromise regarding line 23 [a disputed maritime border line].”
•Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc refused “linking Lebanon's rights to political compromises,” while calling for the accelerated use of “every available measure to ensure Lebanon's rights and protect its waters and ensure its ability to extract gas and oil” in a statement following their weekly meeting.
•On June 5, Israel deployed a floating production, storage and offloading vessel to the disputed Karish offshore gas field, causing tensions with the Lebanese side, and prompting Hezbollah to send surveillance drones toward the field, which were shot down by the Israelis. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan submitted on July 12 a complaint to the UN Security Council demanding to condemn the launch of the drones by Hezbollah towards the disputed Karish offshore gas field, adding that “the Lebanese government bears responsibility” after Hezbollah had launched three unarmed drones 10 days prior in a reconnaissance mission.