Can help settle Lebanon, Israel border dispute, says US govt

Senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein stated on Thursday at the conclusion of a two-day visit to Lebanon that the United States is looking into the possibilities of resolving the protracted border issue between Israel and Lebanon.

After the maritime border between the two nations was established in 2022, paving the path for offshore exploration activities to start on behalf of Lebanon last week, Hochstein said it was “natural” to look into the problem.

The top adviser for the White House claimed that the reason for his travel to southern Lebanon was to “understand and learn more about what is needed to be able to potentially achieve an outcome”.

“It is time for me to hear from the other side, and to make an assessment if this is a right time,” he said.

Hochstein had stated that he would speak with Israel next and that if both parties agreed, “America would be ready to work with us,” according to the interim foreign minister of Lebanon, Abdallah Bou Habib.

The Blue Line, a border drawn by the UN that delineates the point at which Israeli forces retreated in 2000 when they left south Lebanon, serves as the current demarcation line between the two nations.

This summer, tensions along its length erupted, with members of the heavily armed Lebanese organisation Hezbollah or its supporters engaging Israeli soldiers, as well as rockets being shot at Israel during outbursts of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Abdallah Bou Habib, the interim foreign minister of Lebanon, stated last week that establishing the land border may ease tensions.

UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force, has convened meetings between Lebanon, Israel, and the UN to discuss issues hindering the delineation of the land border. On Thursday, UNIFIL’s one-year mission was extended.

(With agency inputs)