BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel are expected to resume US-mediated talks on a dispute about their Mediterranean Sea border next week, two Lebanese official sources said on Thursday.
Negotiations between old foes Lebanon and Israel were launched in October to try to resolve the dispute, which has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich area, yet the talks have since stalled.
One Lebanese official who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue told Reuters that the US side had informed Lebanon that talks would resume on Monday.
The second Lebanese official said the resumption would coincide with a visit by US mediator John Desrocher, who is due in Lebanon on an unspecified day next week. US embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.
The longtime foes held several rounds of talks in October, a culmination of three years of diplomacy by the United States, hosted by the United Nations at a peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon.
But gaps between the two sides remained large after each presented contrasting maps outlining proposed borders that actually increased the size of the disputed area.
Since the talks stalled, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and ministers of defense and public works approved a draft decree which would expand Lebanon’s claim, adding around 1,400 square km to its exclusive economic zone.
The draft decree has yet to be approved.
Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz’s office said Israel was considering a renewal of talks but “based on the known territory which is in dispute.”
Israel already pumps gas from huge offshore fields, while Lebanon has yet to find commercial gas reserves in its own waters.
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Lebanon, Israel expected to resume talks on maritime border next week
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Lebanon, Israel expected to resume talks on maritime border next week
- Negotiations between the old foes were launched in October to try to resolve the dispute
- But gaps between the two sides remained large after each presented contrasting maps outlining proposed borders
Syrian Alawites protest in coastal heartland after mosque bombing
- Syrian Alawites took to the streets on Sunday in the coastal city of Latakia to protest after a mosque bombing that killed eight people in Homs two days before
LATAKIA: Syrian Alawites took to the streets on Sunday in the coastal city of Latakia to protest after a mosque bombing that killed eight people in Homs two days before.
The attack, which took place in an Alawite area of Homs city, was the latest against the religious minority, which has been the target of several episodes of violence since the December 2024 fall of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite.
Security forces were deployed in the area, and intervened to break up clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
“Why the killing? Why the assassination? Why the kidnapping? Why these random actions without any deterrent, accountability or oversight?” said protester Numeir Ramadan, a 48-year-old trader.
“Assad is gone, and we do not support Assad... Why this killing?“
Sunday’s demonstration came after calls from prominent spiritual leader Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, who on Saturday urged people to “show the world that the Alawite community cannot be humiliated or marginalized.”
“We do not want a civil war, we want political federalism. We do not want your terrorism. We want to determine our own destiny,” he said in a video message on Facebook.
Protesters carried pictures of Ghazal along with banners expressing support for him, while chanting calls for decentralized government authority and a degree of regional autonomy.
“Our first demand is federalism to stop the bloodshed, because Alawite blood is not cheap, and Syrian blood in general is not cheap. We are being killed because we are Alawites,” Hadil Salha, a 40-year-old housewife said.
Most Syrians are Sunni Muslim, and the city of Homs — where Friday’s bombing took place — is home to a Sunni majority but also has several areas that are predominantly Alawite, a community whose faith stems from Shiite Islam.
The community is otherwise mostly present across their coastal heartland in Latakia and Tartus provinces.
Since Assad’s fall, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and Homs province residents have reported kidnappings and killings targeting members of the minority community.
- Alawite massacres -
The country has also seen several bloody flare-ups of sectarian violence.
Syria’s coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
Late last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the coast to protest fresh attacks targeting Alawites in Homs and other regions.
Before and after the March bloodshed, authorities carried out a massive arrest campaign in predominantly Alawite areas, which are also former Assad strongholds.
Protesters on Sunday also demanded the release of detainees.
On Friday, Syrian state television reported the release of 70 detainees in Latakia “after it was proven that they were not involved in war crimes,” saying more releases would follow.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all Syria’s communities will be protected, the country’s minorities remain wary of their future under the new Islamist authorities, who have so far rejected calls for federalism.
The attack, which took place in an Alawite area of Homs city, was the latest against the religious minority, which has been the target of several episodes of violence since the December 2024 fall of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite.
Security forces were deployed in the area, and intervened to break up clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
“Why the killing? Why the assassination? Why the kidnapping? Why these random actions without any deterrent, accountability or oversight?” said protester Numeir Ramadan, a 48-year-old trader.
“Assad is gone, and we do not support Assad... Why this killing?“
Sunday’s demonstration came after calls from prominent spiritual leader Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, who on Saturday urged people to “show the world that the Alawite community cannot be humiliated or marginalized.”
“We do not want a civil war, we want political federalism. We do not want your terrorism. We want to determine our own destiny,” he said in a video message on Facebook.
Protesters carried pictures of Ghazal along with banners expressing support for him, while chanting calls for decentralized government authority and a degree of regional autonomy.
“Our first demand is federalism to stop the bloodshed, because Alawite blood is not cheap, and Syrian blood in general is not cheap. We are being killed because we are Alawites,” Hadil Salha, a 40-year-old housewife said.
Most Syrians are Sunni Muslim, and the city of Homs — where Friday’s bombing took place — is home to a Sunni majority but also has several areas that are predominantly Alawite, a community whose faith stems from Shiite Islam.
The community is otherwise mostly present across their coastal heartland in Latakia and Tartus provinces.
Since Assad’s fall, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and Homs province residents have reported kidnappings and killings targeting members of the minority community.
- Alawite massacres -
The country has also seen several bloody flare-ups of sectarian violence.
Syria’s coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
Late last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the coast to protest fresh attacks targeting Alawites in Homs and other regions.
Before and after the March bloodshed, authorities carried out a massive arrest campaign in predominantly Alawite areas, which are also former Assad strongholds.
Protesters on Sunday also demanded the release of detainees.
On Friday, Syrian state television reported the release of 70 detainees in Latakia “after it was proven that they were not involved in war crimes,” saying more releases would follow.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all Syria’s communities will be protected, the country’s minorities remain wary of their future under the new Islamist authorities, who have so far rejected calls for federalism.
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