Lebanon eyes sea border talks with Syria

LEBANON wants talks to demarcate its maritime border with Syria so that it can begin offshore gas extraction after reaching a similar agreement with Israel, its top negotiator said.

Last month – despite the countries technically remaining in a state of war – Israel and Lebanon struck a USbrokered sea border agreement that will potentially open up lucrative offshore gas fields.

Beirut now wishes to define its maritime borders with Syria, to the north, and Cyprus, to the west, to consolidate its offshore rights.

“The Lebanese government must engage directly and publicly with the Syrian government … and publicly demarcate our sea borders,” Elias Bou Saab said. “Any future government must undertake this task and put Lebanon’s interest first,” he insisted, while “leaving regional political conflicts out of this matter.”

Syria, which once had a controlling hand in Lebanon’s affairs, has repeatedly refused to delimit land and sea borders with its neighbour.

According to Bou Saab, the disputed maritime area between Lebanon and Syria is “perhaps more than 800 square kilometres”. It could be “larger than the disputed area with Israel”, he said.

Lebanon can’t begin gas exploration in the waters off its Mediterranean coast without first resolving its border dispute with Syria, he said. |