File image.
On August 19, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah stressed that the fate of the Iranian nuclear deal will not affect Lebanon’s maritime dispute with Israel.
Speaking at the cornerstone ceremony of a Hezbollah touristic landmark in the Lebanese town of Janta, named “The Story of the First Shot”, Nasrallah said ”Lebanon’s oil and gas resources and the disputable zone in Karish will not be affected by whether the nuclear deal will be signed or not.”
Karish naval gas field became the focal point of the Lebanese-Israeli maritime dispute in the last few months. Despite claims by Lebanon that a part of Karish is located in its exclusive economic zone, the Greek-owned Energean Power FPSO [Floating Production Storage Offloading] reached the field in June to extract gas for Israel.
US-backed indirect talks on the demarcation of the naval borders between Lebanon and Israel saw some progress recently. However, Hezbollah does not appear to be optimistic.
During his speech, Nasrallah denied that Hezbollah is linking the maritime dispute to the Iranian nuclear deal, adding that the US mediator Amos Hochstein is wasting time and that the remaining time is getting shorter.
“If Lebanon secures its rights, calm will be maintained; however, escalation will be inevitable if Lebanon’s rights are denied,” Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah affirmed its serious stand on the Lebanese-Israeli maritime dispute last month when it harassed operations at Karish with unarmed drones then released footage showing anti-ship missiles directed at vessels in the gas field.
Israel is expected to begin extracting gas from Karish in September. Lebanese officials believe that the maritime dispute with can be resolved by then. However, Israel appears to be stalling, likely on the hope that a new nuclear deal between Iran and the US will soften Hezbollah stand on the issue. This will not apparently happen, however.
