Today, Monday, the office of Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that President Michel Aoun had agreed to invite US envoy Amos Hochstein to Beirut to continue negotiations on demarcating the southern maritime border with Israel.
The Prime Minister's Office said that it was decided to hold contacts with major countries and the United Nations to confirm Lebanon's adherence to its marine wealth, and to consider any actions taken by Israel in the disputed region as an aggressive provocation that threatens international peace and security and obstructs negotiations.
Yesterday, Mikati said that Israel's encroachment on Lebanon's water wealth and the imposition of a fait accompli in a disputed region is extremely dangerous, considering that Tel Aviv is creating a new crisis, and called on the United Nations and all concerned to remedy the situation and compel the Israeli "enemy" to stop its provocations, he said.
On the other hand, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that the navy is preparing for the possibility of an attack on the Karish gas platform at Lebanon's maritime border, and that it will transfer a naval version of the Iron Dome system to the region.
This authority added that the Navy will secure the floating platform by means of naval vessels above and below the sea, including submarines, and that it will be ready to respond.
The Lebanese presidency had said that Aoun discussed with Mikati the entry of a Greek ship into the disputed area with Israel.
The Minister of Defense called on the international community to move quickly to put an end to Israeli practices, and to anticipate any deterioration in the security of southern Lebanon.
Lebanon warned Israel yesterday against any "aggressive action" in the disputed waters, where the two countries hope to develop offshore energy resources, after a ship operated by London-based Energean arrived off the coast to extract gas for Israel.
Lebanon's declared positions come while it had signed a decree in which it expanded its exclusive economic zone to become the disputed area with Tel Aviv about 2,300 square kilometers.
Information about the disputed area
As part of its battles to acquire gas deposits in the Mediterranean, Israel has been exploring in fields such as Leviathan, Dolphin, Dalit, Tamar and Tanin, but in July 2013 it announced its intention to start exploration in a new field called Karish.
In light of the failure to reach a clear demarcation of the maritime border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under American auspices, the "Energean Power" ship for the production of natural gas arrived at the Karish field, which is disputed between the two countries.
The dispute to demarcate the maritime borders between the two parties is no longer limited to the original area estimated at 860 square kilometers, but has become, according to Lebanese demands, an additional area larger by 1,430 square kilometers, including the Karish field.
The area of this field is estimated at 150 square kilometers, and it is estimated that it has reserves ranging between 1.5 trillion and two trillion cubic feet of gas.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Energy, the Karish field is only 4 kilometers from the border with Israel, specifically in Block 8 belonging to Lebanon, and 7 kilometers from Block No. 9 and about 15 kilometers from a surveyed Lebanese gas reservoir.
Lebanese sources had previously expected that Israel would build between 3 and 4 wells in the field, at least one to two of them at an impressive distance from Lebanon's gas wealth.
Lebanese experts warn that the danger is that modern drilling techniques will allow diagonally or even horizontally in the Karish field between 4 and 7 kilometers to reach Blocks No. 8 and 9, and thus the infringement will obtain Lebanon's wealth of gas in the Mediterranean.