Today, Monday, the Lebanese government considered that Hezbollah's launch of drones towards the Karish oil field was outside the responsibility of the state and the diplomatic context, stressing its rejection of any action that exposes Lebanon to risks.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his foreign minister, Abdullah Bouhabib, announced in a statement issued after a meeting between them today, "that Lebanon believes that any action outside the framework of the state's responsibility and the diplomatic context within which negotiations are taking place, is unacceptable and exposes it to unnecessary risks."

According to the statement;

The meeting dealt with the situation in southern Lebanon and the issue of the three rallies that were launched in the vicinity of the disputed maritime area and the reactions they provoked.

The meeting discussed the feasibility of this process, which "taken outside the framework of state responsibility and the diplomatic context, especially since the ongoing negotiations with the efforts of the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, have reached advanced stages," according to the statement.

The government called on all parties to "show a spirit of high national responsibility and abide by the foregoing," and declared that "everyone without exception is behind the state in the negotiation process," calling for the need to stop the ongoing Israeli violations of Lebanon's sovereignty.

The statement reiterated the government's support for the US mediator's efforts to reach a solution that "preserves all Lebanese rights with complete clarity."

And Hezbollah announced in a statement the day before yesterday, Saturday, the launch of 3 unarmed marches of different sizes towards the disputed area at the Karish field to carry out reconnaissance missions, and the Israeli army confirmed its objection.


Israeli failure

However, an investigation issued today by the Israeli army confirmed that its air force failed to deal with the Hezbollah drones that it launched recently.

The investigation, which was reported by Israeli media, indicated that the air force was able to shoot down only one march directly, while it failed to monitor a march and was able to shoot it down only at a later time after it was targeted by a warship guarding a gas field in the Karish area.

The investigation said that the air force was unable to follow up and monitor another low-altitude march.

In this context, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid considered on Sunday that Hezbollah "undermines Lebanon's ability to reach an agreement on the maritime borders."

The negotiations that began between the two parties in 2020 with American mediation stopped in May last year due to differences over the area of ​​the disputed area.

At its inception, the talks were supposed to be limited to a maritime area estimated at 860 square kilometers, the borders of which are defined by Line 23, based on a map sent by Lebanon in 2011 to the United Nations.

But Lebanon later considered that the map was based on wrong estimates, and demanded that an additional 1,430 square kilometers be searched, including parts of the Karish field, known as Line 29.

After the arrival of the gas extraction platform off the Israeli coast, Lebanon called on Hochstein to resume negotiations, and presented a new offer for the demarcation of the border that did not address the Karish field.