Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, contacted today Lebanon’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Amal Mudallali, to ask the Security Council to verify the possibility of a new Israeli attack on Lebanese sovereignty and maritime rights.
The Lebanese top diplomat also contacted the Embassy of the United States of America, the state sponsor of the negotiations between the two parties, along with the United Nations, raising the issue of Israel’s awarding “Halliburton” a contract to carry out exploration works for oil and gas at sea.
Bou Habib underlined the need to ensure that these works do not fall within the disputed area between Lebanon and Israel, in order to avoid any attack on Lebanon’s rights, and to prevent any future excavations in the disputed areas.
House Speaker Nabih Berri called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take “urgent and immediate action in the direction of the UN Security Council and the international community to verify the possibility of a new Israeli attack on Lebanese sovereignty and rights.
Speaker Berri stressed that “the Israeli entity’s undertaking commissions and concluding offshore exploration contracts for Halliburton or other companies in the disputed area at sea represents a violation, or even a blow to the framework agreement sponsored by the United States of America and the United Nations.”
He also considered that “the reluctance and procrastination of the alliance of Total Novatek and Eni companies in starting the drilling operations, which were supposed to begin several months ago in Block No. 9 of the Lebanese side of the maritime borders, raises major questions.”
“The Israeli entity’s persistence in its aggression represents a threat to international peace and security,” Speaker Berri emphasized.
Source: Al-Manar English Website and NNA
