Report: International Delegations in Beirut Later this Month

Lebanon is set to receive later in May several delegations from Europe, Argentine and the United States, mainly the Assistant Treasury Secretary for Terrorist Financing Daniel Glaser, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Glaser is expected to arrive on the 23 of May with a detailed file on the application of the U.S. law that targets the sources of funding of Hizbullah officials and institutions.

His arrival coincides with a visit of a U.S. mission specialized in oil and energy affairs lead by Assistant Energy Minister to determine Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone, the daily said.

There are fears that Lebanon's offshore oil wealth is under threat from Israel, after reports said that Israel had started drilling oil and gas wells near Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone by its southern border.

In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 34.5 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Cyprus.

Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra will also arrive for a two-day visit, to be followed by a Belgian delegation.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault arrives on May 25 in preparation for the International Support Group for Lebanon.