In October 2020, indirect technical negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to delimitate their disputed maritime borders were launched at the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) headquarters in Naqoura (Southern Lebanon) under U.S. mediation. Four rounds of talks were held between October and November 2020, before halting the fifth one in December until further notice with the aim to narrow the differences that came up during the first few sessions.
During those meetings, the Lebanese negotiating team headed by Brigadier General Pilot Bassam Yassin (Deputy Chief of the Army Staff for Operations) has presented a demarcation line based on a detailed study prepared by the Lebanese Army as well as on the availability of more accurate legal and technical data. As a result, the Lebanese delegation has demonstrated Lebanon’s eligibility for an additional area of around 1430 km², in addition to the area of 860 km² highlighted over the past decade. This area lies south of point 23 and ends at a new point 29, which was one of the proposed boundary lines by the British Hydrographic Office (UKHO) back in 2011.
This event will tackle the legal and scientific rationale lying behind the Lebanese demarcation line with the members of the Lebanese official delegation: General Yassin, Colonel Mazen Basbous, Mr. Najib Msihi and Mr. Wissam Edmond Chbat, and will highlight the key findings of the Lebanese Army’s study on which the line was based. In addition, it will place the dispute within its commercial context from an IOCs perspective, and discuss its implications on the local and regional levels.
The discussion will be in Arabic with simultaneous interpretation to English on the following zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sLxxoI_JRfaGrOxPRUffFQ
Live streaming in Arabic will take place online on the following links:
www.facebook.com/aub.ifi/live
www.aub.edu.lb/live
