Lebanon wants direct talks to demarcate its maritime border with Syria so it can begin offshore gas exploration, weeks after reaching a similar agreement with Israel, its top negotiator told AFP.
The US-brokered sea border deal with Israel guarantees “stability” in a volatile region, where the two enemy states seek to exploit potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters, Elias Bou Saab said.
Beirut now wishes to define its maritime borders with Syria to the north, and Cyprus, to the west, to consolidate its offshore rights.
“The Lebanese government must engage directly and publicly with the Syrian government… and publicly demarcate our sea borders,” Bou Saab, who is also Lebanon’s deputy speaker of parliament, said Tuesday.
“Any future government must undertake this task and put Lebanon’s interest first,” he insisted, while “leaving regional political conflicts out of this matter.”
Syria, which once had a controlling hand in Lebanon’s affairs, has repeatedly refused to delimit land and sea borders with its neighbour.
In recent years, Lebanese politicians have been deeply divided over relations with Damascus.
Lebanese security officials and politicians have made several visits to Syria, but almost exclusively in their personal capacity or on behalf of political parties that support the Syrian regime.
The powerful Shiite organisation Hezbollah, which has backed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces since the early stages of the conflict, been advocating for rapprochement with Damascus. (RFI)