Lebanon Requests ‘Maritime Blue Line,’ Israel Mulling Answer

Lebanon has proposed the demarcation of its maritime border with Israel during a tripartite meeting held at the UNIFIL headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura.

“Maintaining peace and stability was the goal of this tripartite meeting and I am happy that we were able to address all the issues in a constructive atmosphere,” UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas said Monday after chairing the meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli armies.

However, As Safir daily said Tuesday that the Lebanese army representative, Maj. Gen. Abdelrahman Shehaitli, called for the demarcation of the maritime border similar to the U.N.-drawn Blue Line that separates southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Shehaitli asked Asarta to carry the Lebanese request to the U.N. to establish a “maritime Blue Line” that would help Lebanon control any violation of its territorial waters.

As Safir said that the Israeli army representative promised to reply to the Lebanese request during the next tripartite meeting.

The Central News Agency quoted a security source as saying that the conferees also discussed the importance of Israel’s pullout from the northern part of the border village of Ghajar in compliance with U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

“The UNIFIL representatives stressed during the meeting on the importance of demarcating the Blue Line,” the source said.