Lebanon, Syria discuss sea border after Beirut’s Israel deal

BEIRUT, Oct 22 (Reuters) – Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday mentioned delineating their nations’ shared maritime border, a Lebanese official mentioned.

A dispute over their shared sea boundary emerged final 12 months after Syria granted a licence to a Russian vitality firm to start maritime exploration in an space Lebanon claimed. A number of gasoline discoveries have been made within the japanese Mediterranean.

Aoun earlier mentioned demarcating the border could be subsequent after Lebanon agreed its southern maritime boundary with longtime foe Israel following years of oblique U.S.-mediated talks.

Aoun instructed Assad that Lebanon was eager “to start negotiations with Syria to delineate its northern maritime boundary,” the Lebanese official instructed Reuters after Saturday’s talks.

Syria’s Sham FM radio reported that particulars of the delineation had but to be mentioned and that Assad proposed holding direct talks through the nations’ overseas ministries.

The 2 leaders mentioned delineation final 12 months.

Aoun’s time period as president of Lebanon, which is the midst of a deep political and financial disaster, ends on Oct. 31. Three parliamentary periods have didn’t elect a successor.

Assad secured one other seven-year time period final 12 months in an election derided by Syria’s opposition and the West as a farce. The vote was held after the federal government regained management of a lot of the territory misplaced to opponents in a battle that erupted in 2011.

Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Enhancing by Edmund Blair

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