Hezbollah threatens to target offshore gas field amid Israel border dispute

Lebanese group Hezbollah on Saturday threatened to target the offshore Karish gas field amid a maritime border dispute with Israel.

“The Zionist (Israeli) officials have said that extraction from Karish would happen in September, but they later announced postponing extraction from Karish and this is good, and we don’t care about the reason, be it technical or not,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a TV interview.

“The red line to us is that there should not be extraction from Karish,” he added.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah is closely following up on the border demarcation negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

“We are following up on the negotiations and all our eyes are on Karish and our missiles are locked on Karish,” he warned. “As long as extraction has not started, there is a chance for solutions.”

“We will not allow that oil and gas be extracted from the disputed Karish field before Lebanon obtains its rightful demands,” Nasrallah stressed.

Last week, energy exploration company Energean said it postponed its activity in the disputed Karish field for a few weeks, without providing details for the move.

Last week, US mediator Amos Hochstein expressed optimism over reaching a border demarcation agreement between Lebanon and Israel soon.

Lebanon and Israel are locked in a dispute over a maritime area of 860 square kilometers (332 square miles), according to maps sent by both countries to the UN in 2011.

The area is rich in natural gas and oil. Starting in 2020, five sessions of indirect negotiations have been held on the issue under UN sponsorship and US mediation, with the latest round held in May 2021.

Source: AA