UN to Shami: We Won't Delineate Lebanese-Israeli Maritime Border

The U.N. will not define the Lebanese-Israeli maritime border after the Israeli recent discovery of a major gas well across their border, U.N. Spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

His remarks came to confirm a statement by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Nesirky said the U.N. position is "what UNIFIL said."

He said UNIFIL's mandate - among others to monitor the coastal waters in conformity with Security Council resolution 1701 - "does not include delineating maritime lines. We are talking about two different things: coastal waters and a disputed boundary."

The decision came after Foreign Minister Ali Shami asked the U.N. to curb Israel's offshore drilling plans, days after the discovery of a large gas field.

Shami's letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Lebanon's petroleum wealth in the South came in light of recent reports that Israel had reached an agreement with a number of companies to drill for gas and oil in the Mediterranean, with some of these fields lying in the joint regional waters between Lebanon and northern Palestine.

Shami urged Ban to do "everything possible to ensure Israel does not exploit Lebanon's hydrocarbon resources."

He stressed "Lebanon's right to the complete petroleum wealth which lies within its economic zone" as indicated in international laws, adding that any "Israeli exploitation of this wealth is a blatant violation of these laws and an assault against Lebanese sovereignty."