US must accept Lebanon’s demands over Israel border dispute – Hezbollah
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah said on Friday the United States must accept the Lebanese government’s demands over border disputes with Israel, and vowed it is ready to act against Israel if needed.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, described the issue as a “battle for all of Lebanon.”
US diplomats have been mediating between the two countries after a surge in tensions over a border wall that Israel is building and Lebanon’s decision to explore for offshore energy near disputed waters. Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that Hezbollah’s growing arsenal, as well as its involvement in regional conflicts, is threatening Lebanon’s security
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told a US envoy on Friday that Lebanon rejects current US proposals over the marine border with Israel.
Nasrallah said, “The state must have a strong and firm position,” speaking in a televised speech at a rally.
“If the Americans come and say you must be responsive so that I restrain Israel from you: Tell the Americans they must accept [Lebanon‘s] demands so that we hold Hezbollah back from Israel,” he added.
“The oil wealth is for all the Lebanese,” he said.
Nasrallah said Lebanese officials should not fear Israeli military might, but should warn US officials of Hezbollah’s own strength. He also said the United States was not an honest broker, and that Lebanese officials should not be fooled by their mediation.
He also praised the shooting down of an Israeli fighter jet last Saturday by Syrian anti-aircraft fire, describing it as “a very big military achievement.”
Nasrallah said the main issue currently at stake was Lebanon’s maritime borders.
“In the oil and gas battle, the only power [the Lebanese] have is the resistance,” he said, in a reference to his Iran-backed political and military movement.
The Lebanese Army could not stop Israel in this matter, he said, because the United States – Israel’s key ally and also a key supporter of Lebanon’s military – would stand in its way.
“If Lebanon’s Defense Council Higher were to decide that [Israeli] offshore oil and gas plants... should be forbidden from working, I promise they would stop working within hours,” he said.
Nasrallah spoke in a televised address at a rally commemorating senior commanders, including former military leader Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus in 2008.
Berri said US proposals regarding the Lebanon-Israel maritime border were “unacceptable,” state news agency NNA said.
He made the comment to visiting acting Assistant US Secretary of State David Satterfield, who on Friday met with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Prime Minister Saad Hariri in addition to Berri.
The US diplomat has been mediating between Lebanon and Israel.
“What is proposed is unacceptable,” Lebanon’s NNA cited Berri as saying.
This was an apparent reference to a maritime demarcation line proposed by US diplomat Frederic Hof in 2012. The line would give Lebanon around two-thirds and Israel around one-third of a disputed triangular area of sea of around 860 sq.km.
Berri, whose position is the second-most powerful in government, insisted during his meeting with Satterfield that the maritime border should be drawn up through a committee that stemmed from a 1996 cease-fire, state news agency NNA said.
He said he wanted to see a similar process as produced the UN-demarcated Blue Line border, which marks Israel’s military withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Lebanon signed its first exploration and production agreements a week ago with a consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
Lebanon has hoped to explore for energy in its waters since other countries started finding gas in the area in 2009, but its plans were put on hold by political paralysis in Beirut.
It restarted a stalled tender process for five of its 10 offshore blocks, including three along the disputed border with Israel, last year after a political deal that led to the formation of a new government.
Lebanon has one of the world’s highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world and its economic growth is very weak.
One of the blocks signed a week ago, Block 9, lies partly in waters disputed by Israel. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has described the decision to explore there as “very provocative.”
Lebanon’s energy minister has said the dispute with Israel would not stop Lebanon benefiting from undersea reserves in Block 9. Consortium operator Total said it would not drill the block’s first well near the disputed zone.