Origins of the Dispute

The two countries have long sparred over their borders. In 2000, the U.N.-administered “blue line” was established to define the line of withdrawal for Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, which has prevented large-scale cross-border incursions ever since, though occasional clashes have taken place between the Israel Defense Forces, the Lebanese army and Iran-backed militias.

That arrangement, however, didn’t settle the spat over their maritime boundaries – a dispute that was aggravated by a series of natural gas discoveries off the coast of Israel, Cyprus and Egypt in the 2010s.

The discoveries introduced the possibility that Lebanon could tap into substantial natural gas reserves that potentially equalled those of its Mediterranean neighbours. After signing a delimitation agreement with Cyprus in 2007, Lebanon submitted its claim to an exclusive economic zone to the U.N., but it was undermined nearly a year later by an Israel-Cyprus deal that demarcated EEZs that overlapped with Lebanon’s own.

In 2011, the U.S. sent Ambassador Frederic C. Hoff to mediate the dispute. He established the “Hoff Line” that would have given Lebanon 550 sq. km of the 860 sq. km Lebanon considered its territorial waters, but the talks soon fizzled out.

For Israel, the dispute hasn’t been too costly; it already produces more natural gas than it can use domestically or export.

However, the lack of progress has irritated Lebanon, which so far has found no gas deposits in its waters. In 2018, Lebanon signed drilling contracts for two blocks – Block 8 and 9 – with energy giants Novatek, ENI and Total. But the dispute over maritime boundaries – and the companies’ concerns about angering Israel – have stalled exploration operations that were scheduled to be completed