The head of Lebanon’s Iranian proxy terror group, Hezbollah, is once again threatening Israel with an “escalation” if Lebanon “is not given what it wants” in negotiations over its maritime boundary with the Jewish State.
“If the Lebanese state is not given what it wants, we will be heading to an escalation, even if the nuclear agreement (between Iran and world powers) gets signed,” Nasrallah said in a televised address quoted by Naharnet.
“Should the US mediator come and give the Lebanese state what it wants, we will be heading to calm, regardless of whether there will be a nuclear agreement. . . The eyes of the Lebanese should not be on Vienna,” he continued.
“The eyes should be on Karish, the sea border and northern Israel,” Nasrallah said, adding that US energy envoy Amos Hochstein is “still wasting time,” and that “his time is running out.”
Unnecessary Threats
Nasrallah’s threats, however, are unnecessary. According to a report published Friday by the al-Akhbar newspaper, Israel and Lebanon have already come to an agreement on the maritime border demarcation.
According to the report, the agreement would give Lebanon Line 23 and all the nearby Qana gas field.
Israel allegedly demanded a guarantee from Hezbollah not to attack its Karish gas field, over which the dispute originated and where a drilling rig was set up earlier in the summer.
A Lebanese source quoted on Saturday by Russia’s Sputnik news agency said Lebanon and Israel are close to sealing an agreement on the maritime border.
“We are very close to reaching an agreement on the demarcation of the maritime border with Israel, and we have been informed that the answer the US mediator Amos Hochstein will carry from the Israeli side in response to the Lebanese proposal is positive, and he will soon return to Beirut,” the official reportedly told Sputnik.
Hochstein is currently in Greece, according to Naharnet, which reported the US envoy is expected to return to Lebanon late this month to continue the talks.
