BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday discussed delineating their countries’ shared maritime border, a Lebanese official said.
A dispute over their shared sea boundary emerged last year after Syria granted a license to a Russian energy company to begin maritime exploration in an area Lebanon claimed. Several gas discoveries have been made in the eastern Mediterranean.
Aoun earlier said demarcating the border would be next after Lebanon agreed its southern maritime boundary with longtime foe Israel following years of indirect US-mediated talks.
Aoun told Assad that Lebanon was keen “to begin negotiations with Syria to delineate its northern maritime boundary,” the Lebanese official told Reuters after Saturday’s talks.
Syria’s Sham FM radio reported that details of the delineation had yet to be discussed and that Assad proposed holding direct talks via the countries’ foreign ministries.
The two leaders discussed delineation last year.
Aoun’s term as president of Lebanon, which is the midst of a deep political and economic crisis, ends on Oct. 31. Three parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a successor.
Assad secured another seven-year term last year in an election derided by Syria’s opposition and the West as a farce. The vote was held after the government regained control of much of the territory lost to opponents in a conflict that erupted in 2011.
Lebanon, Syria discuss sea border after Beirut’s Israel deal
https://arab.news/rgwaw
Lebanon, Syria discuss sea border after Beirut’s Israel deal
- Aoun told Assad that Lebanon was keen "to begin negotiations with Syria to delineate its northern maritime boundary"
- The two leaders discussed delineation last year
Trump asks Netanyahu to change West Bank policy
- US President, his team raise settler violence, financial instability of PA, Israeli settlements’ expansion
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and his top advisers asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank during their meeting according to a US official and another source, both with direct knowledge, Axios said.
Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian state alongside Israel.
According to the US official, the White House thinks a violent escalation in the West Bank would undermine efforts to implement the Gaza peace agreement and prevent the expansion of the Abraham Accords before the end of Trump’s term.
Trump and his team expressed concern about the situation in the West Bank and asked Netanyahu to avoid provocative steps and “calm things down,” the sources said.
The president and his team raised settler violence against Palestinian civilians, the financial instability of the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli settlements expansion, the sources said.
The US message was that changing course in the West Bank is critical to repair Israel’s relations with European countries and, hopefully, expand the Abraham Accords. “Netanyahu spoke very strongly against settler violence and said he is going to take more action,” the source with knowledge said.
