Satterfield’s shuttle diplomacy may offer diplomatic opening for Syria
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Hezbollah holds Israel file in Lebanon
US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield has undertaken an unusual weekslong shuttle diplomacy mission between Israel and Lebanon following an agreement between Lebanon and a consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek to begin offshore exploration of a disputed offshore gas field known as Block 9.
The decision by the Lebanese government to proceed with Block 9 exploration was labeled as “very, very challenging and provocative” by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. On Feb. 9, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that diplomacy “is preferable to threats” but added later, addressing Beirut, “Don’t provoke us, and don’t explore in or even get close to the disputed line-of-contact.”
As Joseph Macaron reports, “When Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Joseph Aoun asked what his troops should do if Israel violated Lebanese waters, Prime Minister Saad Hariri promptly responded, ‘You shoot at them.’”
