Lebanon condemns Israel over violating its territorial waters

In a statement on Sunday, the Lebanese army said Israeli gunboats have entered several hundred meters inside the country’s waters in an area opposite Ras Naqoura in southern Lebanon.

The country's army said it has reported four violations to the United Nations on Saturday, adding that it is discussing them with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

The latest development comes as Lebanon has approved a US-mediated maritime border deal with Israel.

In a televised speech on Thursday, President Michel Aoun announced that Lebanon has approved the final version prepared by the American mediator to delineate the southern maritime border.

He also stressed that Lebanon has recovered a large swathe of its territory without even conceding a single square kilometer to the occupying regime, while describing the deal as a "historic achievement."

The announcement came a day after the Israeli regime’s cabinet approved by majority the formula for the maritime border demarcation agreement with Lebanon.

Lebanon and the occupying regime are technically at war, since the latter has kept the country’s Shebaa Farms under occupation since 1967.

Lebanon fought off two Israeli wars in 2000 and 2006. On both occasions, battleground contribution by its Hezbollah resistance movement proved an indispensable asset, forcing the Israeli military into retreat.

The country eyes the issue of delineation of its southern border zone with great sensitivity both due to being wary of Israel’s expansionist attitude and given its plans to engage in oil and gas exploration in its share of the Mediterranean.

Lebanon and the Israeli regime carried out five sessions of indirect talks on the demarcation of maritime borders starting 2020, with the latest round held in May 2021. Since the negotiations kicked off, Hezbollah declared that extraction of gas from offshore Karish gas field without guarantees to Lebanon that it will be able to explore and extract its maritime resources is a red line.

On Saturday, a senior Hezbollah official said Beirut had achieved its goals in the maritime dispute case with the Israeli regime without resorting to military action.

Head of the resistance movement's political council, Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, added that there is a generation in Lebanon that has crushed the power of the arrogant countries and foiled their wars against Lebanon.

“Lebanon, thanks to the resistance and the unified national stance, has won in the case of its marine wealth without needing to go to war to achieve this,” Sayyed said.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, said on Tuesday that the movement will not recognize any maritime border deal between Lebanon and the Israeli regime until it is officially signed.

Nasrallah said “we will remain vigilant” until such a deal is finalized, noting a proper deal should meet the Lebanese government’s demands.