Tenenti: UNIFIL Has No Mandate to Demarcate Maritime Border
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has no mandate to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel and its mission is limited to preventing any hostile naval acts, UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said Monday.
He noted that the mandate of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force is limited to helping the Lebanese navy in preventing the unauthorized entry of arms by sea into Lebanon.
“The maritime security line was, like the Blue Line, drawn by Israel following its withdrawal (from south Lebanon) in 2000, but this line was not acknowledged by the Lebanese government and UNIFIL has no mandate to monitor it,” Tenenti added.
“The Lebanese army has suggested the setting up of a security maritime line in the region, and UNIFIL can help, if Lebanon and Israel agree on authorizing it in this regard,” he went on to say.
Israel's proposed maritime border with Lebanon threatens regional security, Lebanon's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Monday, as a feud over offshore gas fields between the two enemy states deepens.
"Israel's measures have created a new point of tension in the region and threaten peace and security across this region," Mansour told reporters in Beirut.
Mansour said the border as proposed by Israel cuts through Lebanon's economic zone, adding that Lebanon would "turn to the United Nations".
President Michel Suleiman on Monday also warned Israel over the demarcation of the shared maritime border.
"President Michel Suleiman warns against any unilateral decisions Israel may take on maritime borders which would be a breach of international law, as is Israel's habit," read a statement from his office.
"Lebanon will defend its rights and resources by any and all legitimate means."
Suleiman said the issue would be up for discussion at the first meeting of Lebanon's new government, which on Thursday won a vote of confidence in parliament.
Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved a map of the country's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a U.N. opinion.
The proposed map lays out maritime borders that conflict significantly with those suggested by Lebanon in its own submission to the United Nations.
Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil said Lebanon will not give up its maritime rights, and accused Israel of "violations of (Lebanese) waters, territory and airspace, and today our oil rights."
Israel has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, some which are shared with Cyprus, that it hopes could help it to become an energy exporter.
But its development plans have stirred controversy with Lebanon, which argues the gas fields lie inside its territorial waters.
Israel does not have officially demarcated maritime borders with Lebanon, and the two nations remain technically at war.
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