The Lebanese presidency announced in a tweet on Twitter today, Friday, that a formula had been reached to demarcate the maritime borders with Cyprus, and this announcement came one day after Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed the text of the agreement demarcating the maritime borders between the two sides, separately and without attending the signing ceremony.
Elias Bou Saab, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, said that it was agreed with Cyprus to amend the southern maritime border between the two countries according to the 23rd line.
In a statement following President Michel Aoun's meeting with the Cypriot delegation, Bousaab added that his country will not finalize the file of demarcating the maritime borders with Cyprus, except after an understanding with Syria.
The Lebanese presidency announced this week that an official delegation will go to Damascus to discuss the issue on Thursday.
The Syrian ambassador to Beirut, Ali Abdel Karim Ali, later reported a "confusion" about setting the date.
Syria has repeatedly refused to demarcate the land and sea borders with Lebanon.
President Aoun was informed by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, that the talks with the Cypriot delegation had reached a formula for amending the maritime borders between Lebanon and Cyprus
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) October 28, 2022
Bou Saab said that the aim of today's meeting is to discuss the outstanding points between Lebanon and Cyprus on the issue of maritime demarcation, as there was a difference of views in the past, and an agreement was reached but was not concluded.
He added that cooperation with Cyprus is not the same as cooperation with the enemy state (Israel), and this speeds up work.
He added that President Aoun had given directions to speed up the demarcation as much as possible, so today's meeting was to put things on the right track.
He pointed out that the points that will remain unresolved are those related to the demarcation in the north, so we asked to communicate with Syria again.
For his part, the head of the Cypriot delegation, Tasos Tzionis, told reporters after the meeting, that there is no problem that cannot be resolved between us, and the issue of demarcation is not that difficult.
Cypriot envoy from Baabda: There is no problem between Lebanon and Cyprus that cannot be resolved easily pic.twitter.com/q1pdvXbAgw
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) October 28, 2022
On January 17, 2007, Lebanon signed an agreement with Greek Cyprus on defining the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone, with the aim of consolidating good-neighbourly relations and cooperating with each other to invest in oil wealth.
According to the website of the Lebanese Army, this agreement was based on the laws in force in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the exclusive zone between Lebanon and Cyprus was determined on the basis of the center line.
However, after Cyprus signed an agreement with Israel in 2011 to define the special economic zone between them, Lebanon accused Cyprus of ignoring what was agreed upon with it, which led to the loss of a water area of more than 860 km2 of its own zone, which contains large quantities of oil and gas.
And last March, a dispute arose over the joint maritime borders between the two countries, after the Syrian regime granted a license to a Russian energy company to start offshore exploration operations in an area that Lebanon claims it belongs to, at a time when it announced important discoveries of gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.