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BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun has renewed his warning against the “dangerous position” taken by Israel’s defense minister on Block 9, in what the president described as the “exclusive economic zone in southern Lebanon.”
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday that “the gas field in Block 9 is ours by all standards,” describing the Lebanese tender to explore a gas field in the Mediterranean, including Block 9, as “very provocative.”
Israel’s statement came a week before the Lebanese Ministry of Energy celebrated gas exploration contracts signed with a consortium of companies, including French Total, Italian Eni and Russian Novatek, in Block 9 in the south and 4 in the north of the Lebanese economic zone.
In a statement from his press office, Aoun urged “caution to what the Israeli enemy is plotting against Lebanon, especially since there are those who are working at home and abroad to provide a climate which is in harmony with the Israeli threats to attack Lebanon and its right to develop its oil and gas wealth on various pretexts.”
Aoun said: “Lebanon is acting to confront these Israeli allegations by diplomatic means, while reaffirming its right to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity by all available means.”
In a telephone interview, Lebanese Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil said: “Israeli moves are part of an attempt to disrupt the work of the companies and intimidate them, but it will fail and we’ll continue on the path of exploration.”
He added: “Drilling will take place in 2019, and the Israeli threats came on the day after Lebanon moved on this path to use its oil, which disturbed the Israeli enemy.”
Khalil said: “Lieberman’s claim is erroneous. Lebanon demarcated its maritime borders in accordance with international law, and will use all means to protect its oil activities.”
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in a statement on Thursday: “Those who believe that the Lebanese government is powerless are wrong. It will take all necessary decisions, and the Lebanese army and the Lebanese people as a whole stand behind it to defend our interests. The issue is not the number of tanks and planes; rather, it is an issue of national rights and international and Arab credibility which is enjoyed by the Lebanese people. (There is) great Arab and international credibility and great sympathy with the Lebanese army.”
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry sent a memorandum to the UN Secretary-General’s office on Jan. 18 about Israeli allegations on the rights of oil Block 9. The memo responded to a letter from the Israeli mission to the Office of the Secretary-General on Dec. 21.
The Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs published the memorandum, which stated that “the Lebanese Government strongly opposes the Israeli allegations and affirms that Block 9 is entirely located in the special economic zone of Lebanon and requests that reference be made to the geographical coordinates of the maritime economic zone between Lebanon and Occupied Palestine, which were sent by Lebanon to the Office of the Secretary-General on 14 July 2010 and on Oct. 19 2011 and clearly specified that Block 9 is a Lebanese property and is under Lebanese sovereignty. “
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw that “Israel ignores our letter sent to the UN on 20 March 2017, which included our unequivocal declaration that Block 9 falls within the Lebanese territorial waters and affirms the right of Lebanon to launch the process of accreditation, exploration, and extraction of oil or gas without prior approval or authorization from any party, and Israel is not entitled to interfere in any way in Lebanon’s exercise of its sovereign rights.”
The State Department warned Israel and its trading partners, including Energean Oil & Gas company, if they decide to take advantage of explorations “in the so-called Israeli field No. 13 and Alon, where the Karish field is located” not to “take advantage of the Lebanese oil or gas through horizontal drilling or in any other way.”