Israel-Lebanon sea border talks postponed
Israel and Lebanon have paused direct discussions over their maritime dispute in a gas-rich part of the Mediterranean in October under US supervision.
The next round of maritime border talks between Israel and Lebanon has been postponed.
Israel and Lebanon were set to begin the second of talks on their disputed Mediterranean Sea border on Wednesday. The talks will instead resume in a few weeks and US mediators will contact each delegations separately in the meantime, Reuters reported on Monday.
Israel and Lebanon have never had diplomatic relations. Lebanon, which does not recognize Israel, hosts millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Israel and the Lebanese political and military group Hezbollah frequently fight each other directly, most recently on the Israel-Lebanon border over the summer.
Tensions between the two states rose in 2010, when Israel discovered natural gas off its coast in the eastern Mediterranean, leading to a dispute between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime border. Israel already extracts gas from the sea, and Lebanon plans to do so as well.
