Report: Lebanon Defends Oil Rights, Turns to UNCLOS

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry is taking steps to refute Israel's claim about Block 9 oil field reaching to the international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

“The ministry has issued a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in March, 2017 announcing that Block 9 is located within Lebanese territorial waters and that Lebanon affirms its right to launch the process of contracting, exploration and extraction without the prior consent of anyone," sources from the Foreign Ministry told the daily.

"The Ministry has sent another similar letter in January, 2018,” they stressed on condition of anonymity.

On Israel's construction of a cement separation wall, the sources said: “Lebanon stands against the construction of a separation wall between Lebanon and occupied Palestine especially that Israel is building it in 13 disputed points, pending the final demarcation of the borders by the United Nations,” the sources told the daily.

“Lebanon holds its rights on its own land and sea," they emphasized.

The Foreign Ministry insists that Lebanon adheres to its right assuring that there will be no compromises, “Lebanon retains the right to retaliate against any Israeli aggression by all available means,” even if it has to sue it, they said.

Israel has in recent days escalated its threats against Lebanon over Lebanon's invitation for offshore gas exploration bids on the maritime border with Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has described as "very provocative" Lebanon's exploration tender and suggested that Lebanon had put out invitations for bids from international groups for a gas field "which is by all accounts ours."

Israel has also started to build a controversial separation border wall that Lebanon says would encroach on its territory.

The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.