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SIDON - Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil Saturday said the approval of oil and gas exploration licenses in Lebanon was an act of “economic resistance” against Israel. Speaking during a visit to Sidon, Bassil said that he considered Cabinet’s approval of licenses for exploration in offshore Block 9 Thursday was the only way to assert Lebanon’s right in the maritime border area disputed with Israel, after failing to resolve the crisis through recent “political and media pressure.”
Lebanon has been vocal in asking for the U.N.’s assistance in designating a triangular, 870-square-kilometer area of disputed territory on the southern maritime border.
Israel opposes the involvement of external mediators in the matter. Speaker Nabih Berri has asked the office of the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon to assist in negotiating a settlement. However, in a statement earlier this year, UNSCOL said that any involvement in the matter required a resolution from the U.N. or a request from all parties concerned.
The comments came in response to Thursday’s Cabinet decision to award licenses for oil and gas exploration to a consortium of international oil companies made up of French Total, Italian ENI and Russian Novatek.
The deal, approved in the first full Cabinet session since Prime Minister Saad Hariri withdrew his resignation, paves the way for drilling and exploration to commence in 2019, and had been several years in the making.
“We do this work, as people of the south,” the foreign minister added in his remarks.
Separately, Bassil opened a new Free Patriotic Movement Office in the Sidon town of Maghdoushe Sunday, when he toured several villages in the area. He also visited the Maronite Diocese, where he was received by Bishop Maroun al-Ammar, and made a visit to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Sidon, and held a meeting with MPs Ali Osseiran, Ziad Aswad, Sidon Mayor Mohammad Saudi and former MP Osama Saad of the Popular Nasserist Organization in Sidon.
Meanwhile, The Lebanese Army Saturday night arrested two people suspected of being involved in tearing down posters of Bassil in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen, local media reported. Local news channel Al-Jadeed reported that the banners had been put up ahead of a visit to Tripoli that Bassil was set to make Sunday, in order to inaugurate an FPM office there.
Following the inauguration, Bassil was set to meet with the area’s Higher Alawite Council, however local news agency MTV reported that the group canceled the meeting following a directive from the head of the Arab Democratic Party, Refaat Eid.
The ADP is a Tripoli-based party that has widespread support from the local Alawite community.
Copyright © 2017, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
Lebanon has been vocal in asking for the U.N.’s assistance in designating a triangular, 870-square-kilometer area of disputed territory on the southern maritime border.
Israel opposes the involvement of external mediators in the matter. Speaker Nabih Berri has asked the office of the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon to assist in negotiating a settlement. However, in a statement earlier this year, UNSCOL said that any involvement in the matter required a resolution from the U.N. or a request from all parties concerned.
The comments came in response to Thursday’s Cabinet decision to award licenses for oil and gas exploration to a consortium of international oil companies made up of French Total, Italian ENI and Russian Novatek.
The deal, approved in the first full Cabinet session since Prime Minister Saad Hariri withdrew his resignation, paves the way for drilling and exploration to commence in 2019, and had been several years in the making.
“We do this work, as people of the south,” the foreign minister added in his remarks.
Separately, Bassil opened a new Free Patriotic Movement Office in the Sidon town of Maghdoushe Sunday, when he toured several villages in the area. He also visited the Maronite Diocese, where he was received by Bishop Maroun al-Ammar, and made a visit to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Sidon, and held a meeting with MPs Ali Osseiran, Ziad Aswad, Sidon Mayor Mohammad Saudi and former MP Osama Saad of the Popular Nasserist Organization in Sidon.
Meanwhile, The Lebanese Army Saturday night arrested two people suspected of being involved in tearing down posters of Bassil in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen, local media reported. Local news channel Al-Jadeed reported that the banners had been put up ahead of a visit to Tripoli that Bassil was set to make Sunday, in order to inaugurate an FPM office there.
Following the inauguration, Bassil was set to meet with the area’s Higher Alawite Council, however local news agency MTV reported that the group canceled the meeting following a directive from the head of the Arab Democratic Party, Refaat Eid.
The ADP is a Tripoli-based party that has widespread support from the local Alawite community.
Copyright © 2017, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
