While Lebanon‘s maritime border negotiations with Israel have gone nowhere, it seems Lebanon‘s sea territory will be violated by another bordering country, Syria.
The Syrian regime is set to start oil explorations off its southern coast in a block that includes part of Lebanon‘s maritime territory.
According to Modern Diplomacy, Syria signed exploration and production contracts with Russian energy companies that have reportedly also signed contracts for hydrocarbon exploration within 3 blocks off the Mediterranean coast of Syria.
Modern Diplomacy added that “a Russian ship conducted geophysical mapping across Syrian and Lebanese territorial waters for gas exploration.” Russia’s presence, the same source writes, “signals long-term involvement of Russia in the East Mediterranean’s energy geopolitics.”
There is no indication – as of yet – of what the Lebanese state intends to do in that regard or if Lebanon’s ruling officials will stand up against this new violation of its sovereign territories by the Syrian regime.
Meanwhile, on the south front, Lebanon‘s president has expressed a desire to resume the maritime borders demarcation negotiations with Israel, but the latter seems to be growing tired of Lebanon.
It blames Lebanon for changing its position in talks and has warned that it would lead to a dead-end in the negotiation process.
