Lebanon and Syria are discussing the maritime borders after the Beirut agreement with Israel and before a visit by a Lebanese delegation charged with negotiating to Damascus in the coming days
Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Syrian President Bashar al Assad discussed delineating the joint maritime border between their two countries on Saturday, a Lebanese official said, before a visit by a Lebanese delegation tasked with negotiating the matter to Damascus in the coming days.
A dispute over the two countries’ shared maritime borders erupted last year after Syria granted a license to a Russian energy company to start offshore drilling in an area Lebanon says it belongs to.
There have been several gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean.
Aoun said earlier that the demarcation of this border will be the next after Lebanon agreed on its southern maritime border with Israel, the old enemy, after indirect talks brokered by the US for years.
The Lebanese official told Reuters after talks on Saturday that Aoun had told Assad that Lebanon was keen to start negotiations with Syria to demarcate the northern maritime border.
The official stated that Aoun then assigned Elias Bou Saab, the deputy speaker of parliament who negotiated on behalf of Lebanon in the indirect talks regarding the border with Israel, to head a delegation that will go to Damascus in the coming days to start discussions.
The official added that the delegation will include the Lebanese ministers of foreign affairs and transport, as well as the Director-General of Public Security, Abbas Ibrahim.
Syrian local radio reported that the details of the demarcation hadn’t yet been discussed, and that Assad suggested direct talks through the two countries’ foreign ministries.
The two leaders discussed border demarcation last year.
Aoun’s presidency of Lebanon, which is experiencing a deep political and economic crisis, ends on October 31.
The Lebanese parliament failed, during three sessions, to elect Aoun’s successor.
