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Beirut (AFP) – Vice-President of the Lebanese Parliament Elias Bou Saab has called for “direct and public” communication with Damascus to delineate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Syria, after Lebanon signed an agreement to delimit its borders with Israel last month.
Bou Saab, who in recent months has led Lebanese negotiations with the American mediator Amos Hochstein at the maritime border with Israel, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse: “There must be communication from the Lebanese government in direct and public way with the Syrian government, and without shame, and without including regional political differences in this file “.
He added: “We must publicly communicate with the Syrian state and publicly delineate the maritime borders (…), and any future government should take on this task.”
Bou Saab’s appeal comes about two weeks after Lebanon and Israel concluded a maritime boundary agreement between them, which allowed Israel to start producing gas from a disputed area, while Lebanon, mired in the economic collapse, hopes to start exploration soon. Lebanon and Israel are at war and officially hostile.
Relations between Lebanon and Syria are very complex. Damascus dominated Lebanon for many years and was the decision maker in the smallest details of public policy, until its army withdrew from it in 2005 under pressure from the street and the international community after nearly thirty years of military deployment. . But the Lebanese are still divided on it, between those who are hostile to it and those who are allies, led by Hezbollah.
There is no clear border demarcation between Lebanon and Syria, either by land or by sea.
Bou Saab said Syria and Lebanon are adopting two different border demarcation methods, and therefore “there is a great dispute, which can be more than 800 square kilometers, or even larger than the disputed area between us and the Israelis. . “
Lebanon cannot begin work and excavation in blocks 1 and 2, located to the north, without delimiting its borders with Syria, according to Bou Saab.
The Lebanese presidency announced last month that an official delegation would travel to Damascus to discuss the demarcation of maritime borders, but the visit did not take place. The Syrian ambassador to Beirut, Ali Abdel Karim Ali, reported a “confusion” over the date setting.
The intensity of official visits between Lebanon and Syria has decreased since the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and are generally limited to individual initiatives by ministers and personalities representing allied parties of Damascus.
Bou Saab said the demarcation cannot be done quickly and “suddenly” after years of interruption, adding: “Syria is a country that has its drawbacks and demands.”
After the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011, Lebanon officially announced its commitment to a policy of “dissociation” after the Lebanese split between supporters of the opposition and supporters of the regime. However, Hezbollah soon announced its military participation in the fighting alongside Syrian government forces.
The day after the announcement of the demarcation of maritime borders with Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus they agreed on a common formula to delimit the borders between them, without having signed an agreement so far.
“We managed in one day to reach an agreement on the adjustment of the borders between Lebanon and Cyprus”, on the basis of the new coordinates relating to the agreement with Israel, said Bou Saab.
© 2022 AFP
