Director-General of Lebanese Public Security Meets US Mediator

Beirut, June 13 (QNA) - Director-General of Lebanese Public Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim met Monday with Amos Hochstein, the US mediator in the indirect negotiations to demarcate the southern maritime border.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the meeting discussed developments in the maritime border demarcation issue.
The Lebanese presidency had announced a few days ago that the American mediator will arrive in Beirut at the request of the Lebanese side to discuss the completion of negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders with the Israeli entity and work to end them as soon as possible.
Lebanese President General Michel Aoun said earlier today that Beirut will inform the American mediator of its position on the proposals submitted to resume negotiations, in a manner that preserves Lebanon's rights.
In October 2020, indirect negotiations between the Lebanese and Israeli parties, with American mediation, began, but they stopped after several months, due to differences over the area of the disputed region.
The demarcation of the maritime borders is of great importance to Lebanon, especially after the discovery of an important reserve of oil resources within the country's territorial waters, which constitutes an important financial resource for the Beirut authorities in light of the financial and economic crisis they are facing.
The Israeli entity demands that negotiations be limited to a maritime area estimated at 860 square kilometers, based on a map sent in 2011 to the United Nations, but Lebanon later considered that the map was based on wrong estimates, and demanded an additional area of 1,430 square kilometers, including parts of the Karish field. While the US mediator believes that the negotiation should be limited to an area estimated at 860 square kilometers. (QNA)