Report: Maritime dispute on brink of solution

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein will arrive Sunday in Lebanon with a framework for an agreement, an Israeli media report said.

Hochstein's awaited response will be a compromise between Israel and Lebanon's demands, the report said.

It added that the Karish gas field will be given to Israel, and that the same company will drill in Israel and in Lebanon.

As officials in Israel believe that the maritime dispute is on the brink of a solution, Israeli General Amos Gilad warned that Hezbollah's threats must be "taken seriously" and that Israel must be ready for a possible confrontation.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had repeatedly warned Israel, after it had moved a gas production vessel into the Karish field, that it would not be able to extract gas from Karish without a sea border agreement with Lebanon.

He said that "no Israeli target at sea or on land is out of the reach of Hezbollah's precision missiles."

Earlier this month, Hezbollah had sent unarmed drones over the Karish gas field "as a message" to Israel.

Lebanon says Karish is disputed territory under ongoing maritime border negotiations, whereas Israel claims it lies within its internationally recognized economic waters.

Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to determine their maritime borders commenced in October 2020, when the two sides held indirect U.S.-mediated talks in southern Lebanon. Since taking over the mediation from late 2021, Hochstein has resorted to shuttle diplomacy with visits to both Beirut and Jerusalem.