Geagea Urges Action to Stop Syria from Infringing on Territorial Waters
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday urged Lebanese authorities to take urgent action to prevent Lebanon from “losing 750 square kilometers of our northern territorial waters.”
“In 2014, the Assad government objected to Lebanon’s oil and gas exploration, and in May 2017, the Lebanese government sent the Assad government a memo demanding communication to unify the vision regarding the border but it received no answer,” Geagea said in a televised address.
“Two days ago we were surprised that the Assad government has authorized a Russian firm to explore for oil and gas based on the Syrian demarcation,” Geagea explained.
“The existent maps show the Syrian demarcation infringing on the Lebanese demarcation, and our historic stance on the Assad regime has nothing to do with this problem, which must be resolved although we are definitely against the Assad regime,” the LF leader added.
Addressing President Michel Aoun, caretaker PM Hassan Diab, the caretaker government and the political forces of the parliamentary majority, Geagea called for “hiring a law firm and sending a warning to the Russian firm to inform it that the Syrian block is infringing on the Lebanese border in an encroachment on our territorial integrity.”
He also called on the government to “send a memo to the U.N. secretary general and inform him of what happened and of the maps and demarcation sent by Lebanon to the U.N.”
He added that should Syria refuse to resort to a technical committee, there should be “a voluntary arbitration.”
“We can also head to the International Court of Justice to present our case, and let (Assad) present his case and the court decide. Should he reject all the steps proposed, Lebanon should take all the possible measures to preserve its border,” Geagea went on to say.
He added: “Assad has many friends in Lebanon; let them use this friendship and inform him that he is infringing on 750 square kilometers.”
Source: Naharnet
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