BEIRUT/NICOSIA: Lebanon and Cyprus signed a long-awaited maritime demarcation deal on Wednesday, paving the way for potential exploration of offshore gas fields and energy cooperation in the Mediterranean.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides signed the agreement at Lebanon’s presidential palace and told reporters it would signal deeper cooperation between Lebanon, European Union-member Cyprus and the broader EU.
“This is a historical agreement, concluding an issue pending for many years and now look forward to what our countries can jointly create,” Christodoulides said.
Cyprus and Lebanon had reached a preliminary deal mapping out their offshore maritime zones in 2007, but there were delays in its ratification by the Lebanese parliament.
Lebanese Energy Minister Joseph Saddi visited Cyprus last month to discuss energy cooperation, after the Lebanese cabinet endorsed a deal defining the two countries’ sea borders.
Lebanon and Israel delineated their maritime borders in 2022 under a US-brokered deal.
Wednesday’s deal leaves neighboring Syria as the final country with which Lebanon has yet to delineate its sea border.
Lebanon hopes offshore gas and oil discoveries could help generate state revenues and economic activity to reverse a 2019 financial collapse that worsened longstanding power shortages.
There have yet to be any commercially viable finds in any of Lebanon’s offshore blocks.
Lebanon, Cyprus sign maritime demarcation deal, paving way for possible energy exploration
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Lebanon, Cyprus sign maritime demarcation deal, paving way for possible energy exploration
- Lebanon hopes offshore gas and oil discoveries could help generate state revenues and economic activity to reverse a 2019 financial collapse that worsened longstanding power shortages
Lebanon arrests six after attack on UN patrol
- The army’s intelligence directorate had followed up on the attack and arrested six Lebanese suspects.
- The army said it would not tolerate attacks on UNIFIL
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army has arrested six people after gunmen attacked UN peacekeepers patrolling in the south of the country, the military said Saturday.
The UN force, known as UNIFIL, had reported that six men riding on three mopeds opened fire on a patrol vehicle Thursday without hurting anyone.
Saturday’s statement said the army’s intelligence directorate had followed up on the attack and arrested six Lebanese suspects.
The army said it would not tolerate attacks on UNIFIL, which it said carries out an important stabilising role south of the Litani river, near the Israeli border.
UNIFIL peacekeepers have been tasked with acting as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since March 1978, and with monitoring the November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The truce was supposed to see Israeli forces withdraw from Lebanon and refrain from attacks while the Iran-backed group is disarmed.
But Hezbollah is resisting those efforts, and in recent weeks Israel has stepped up its ongoing strikes, accusing the group of trying to build its forces.
UNIFIL has also recently complained of Israeli forces firing at or near its peacekeepers.
On Wednesday, direct discussions were held for the first time in decades between Israeli and Lebanese civilian officials under the auspices of a ceasefire monitoring mechanism.
