Lebanon should block Israel from extracting gas from the disputed offshore field, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday, warning a hydrocarbon exploration company hired by Israel against proceeding with its activities.

"The immediate objective should be to prevent the enemy from extracting oil and gas from the Karish gas field," part of which is claimed by Lebanon, Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has called for naming a new premier who is “non-corrupt” and who has a “sovereign identity.”

In an interview with the privately-owned al-Markazia news agency, Geagea also said that the new premier “should pledge not to reserve any portfolio for any party or sect, most importantly the energy portfolio.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea held talks Thursday in the northern town of Bnashii with Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh.

According to Franjieh’s press office, the talks tackled “the upcoming constitutional junctures and a number of important issues at the political, economic, financial and social levels.”

A study documenting at least 22,000 Israeli overflights in Lebanon’s skies over the past 15 years has revealed the “huge scale and impact of Israeli incursions over Lebanon” as well as the “psychological effect on the country,” British newspaper The Guardian reported on Thursday.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday stressed that he will seek “positive results” in the file of demarcating the maritime border with Israel, amid tensions sparked by the arrival of a gas production vessel in the Karish offshore field.

“The approach towards the file of the demarcation of the southern maritime border is based on preserving Lebanon’s interest as well as its rights to its water and land,” Aoun said in a Baabda meeting with the ambassadors of Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday reiterated his call for imposing the equation “no gas from Karish without gas from Qana,” amid controversy over Israel’s positioning of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the Karish offshore field.

“It is not enough that the ship is positioned south of Line 29 as long as it is above Karish. And it is not enough for Israel to say that it will extract gas from the undisputed side as long as it will be from the same field,” Bassil tweeted.

President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Speaker Nabib Berri are leaning toward holding a meeting over the maritime border demarcation next week, al-Manar TV reported.

The outlet said Thursday it had learned that the meeting might take place at the end of next week to discuss the latest developments regarding the maritime border dispute with Israel, as Israel had moved a gas production vessel into a disputed offshore field, sparking Lebanese condemnation.

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi and ISF chief Maj. Gen. Imad Othman laid Thursday floral wreaths on the Internal Security Forces Martyrs' monument on the occasion of the 161st anniversary of the ISF.

Mawlawi had asked the ISF members earlier on Wednesday in a social media statement to hold on to their institution and homeland "in order to build together a more safe and secure country."

Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad has stressed on the sidelines of an energy conference in Jordan that Lebanon needs "before Summer" the approval on a deal that will supply Lebanon with electricity from Jordan through Syria.

"We need to get the approval before Summer," Fayyad said, as he asked Arab and foreign countries for help in gas and fuel supplies.

Israel on Wednesday urged Lebanon to speed up negotiations on its disputed maritime border ahead of an expected visit to Beirut by the U.S. mediator in the contentious talks.