US State Department spokesman Ned Price. (Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AFP)
BEIRUT — US State Department spokesman Ned Price gave away no details of planned future trips to Lebanon by US envoy Amos Hochstein, saying only that his department has “not yet announced a trip” to the country for the mediator of the ongoing maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel. Hochstein last visited Lebanon in his capacity as mediator in June.
Here’s what we know:
• “We have not announced a trip for Hochstein,” Price said during a press briefing, recalling that the latter “was in Lebanon and Israel in recent weeks.”
• Price’s comments follow remarks made Wednesday by the head of the American Task Force for Lebanon Edward Gabriel, who reportedly said there is an “opportunity” to settle the maritime border dispute between the two countries but warned that eventually “the window of opportunity would close.”
• On June 5, a floating production, storage and offloading unit belonging to the London-listed power company Energean arrived to part of the disputed exclusive economic zone between Israel and Lebanon with the aim to start drilling the Karish gas field on behalf of the Israeli state. The vessel’s arrival once again brought to the fore tensions between the countries
• Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech delivered last week, on the anniversary of the 2006 July War with Israel, that 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.”
• On July 4, Hezbollah announced in a statement that it launched three unarmed drones in a reconnaissance mission. It also said that the drones “have achieved the mission required, and sent the right message.”