Hochstein says Shebaa Farms not on his agenda

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will meet with Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab in a European capital prior to his upcoming visit to Lebanon, senior political sources said.

“Phone communication between them is ongoing and they had recently met in Dubai,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Hochstein meanwhile told mediators, according to al-Akhbar, that his mission will be “limited to the Blue Line” and that the Shebaa Farms file will not be on his agenda, seeing as he considers its solution to be a “Lebanese-Syrian affair.”

Newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson will meanwhile arrive in Beirut on Thursday and will act as charge d’affaires pending the election of a new Lebanese president to whom she can submit her credentials, the daily said.

Johnson, however, will make visits to the country’s political forces as part of the efforts to contain escalation on the southern front, al-Akhbar quoted diplomatic sources as saying.