Hezbollah on Wednesday issued a stark warning to Jerusalem, vowing to protect its maritime rights against "Israeli threats."
The comments by Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem came on the background of Israeli plans to mark the two countries’ maritime border to ensure unrestricted access to lucrative natural gas reserves.
Lebanon “will remain vigilant in order to regain its full rights, whatever it takes,” Lebanese news website Naharnet quoted Qassem as saying.
Recent years have seen the discovery of two major gas fields off of the eastern Mediterranean coast. In December, Jerusalem reached an agreement with Cyprus marking the two countries’ sea borders. That agreement came after Cyprus came to a similar understanding four years ago with Lebanon, though that pact has yet to be approved in the Lebanese parliament.
Israel’s cabinet approved its border map on Sunday for submission to the UN, but Lebanese officials say the map conflicts sharply with the map they had already presented to the world body.
Israeli officials said ministers at the meeting simply extended a straight line from the so-called Blue Line (the border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations in June 2000) to the southernmost point of the Cyprus-Lebanon agreement.
The map Lebanon recently submitted to the UN, they said, runs south of the line to which it agreed with Cyprus.
Officials attributed the current dust-up to Hezbollah’s growing clout in the government and the militant group’s interest in retaining any available pretext for continuing its fight against Israel.
“We will not be frightened by the Israeli threats and we will not change our stance in adhering to our rights, and Israel knows that its threats against Lebanon are worthless, after the bitter experiences it went through in the face of Lebanon’s steadfastness and vigor," the Hezbollah deputy chief stated.
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