Lebanon Says Won't Give Up Rights in Maritime Border Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs in the caretaker government, Charbel Wehbe, said his country will not give up its rights in the maritime demarcation file.
"We will not give up our rights even if the negotiations with Israel take ten or 20 years," Wehbe said, according to the Middle East Monitor on Monday.
The first round of indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel began on October 14 under UN auspices. The second round of negotiations, scheduled for December 2, were postponed until further notice.
Lebanon is locked in a conflict with Israel over an area in the Mediterranean Sea spanning about 860 square kilometers, known as Zone No. 9, which is rich in oil and gas.
Unlike land borders, the maritime frontiers have not seen any military clashes.
Lebanon fought off two Israeli wars in 2000 and 2006. On both occasions, battleground contribution by its Hezbollah resistance movement proved an indispensable asset, forcing the Israeli military into a retreat.
Lebanon and the occupying regime are technically at war since the latter has kept the Arab country’s Shebaa Farms under occupation since 1967.