US Ambassador Briefs President Aoun on Status of Maritime Border Negotiations US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea visited the Lebanese President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace today to brief him on the outcome of the latest, ‘productive’ talks between US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein and the Israeli government regarding the delineation of Lebanon’s Southern maritime border. [Naharnet]
Conference of Thirty Governments Convenes to Discuss Hezbollah’s International Network The Law Enforcement Coordination Group (LECG), a group of over thirty governments from the Middle East, South American, Central American, African, Indo-Pacific, and North American regions, convened for the ninth time and focused on the issue of combatting Hezbollah and its international network. According to a State Department statement, “LECG participants noted that [Hezbollah’s ongoing global terrorist plotting, weapons procurement, and financial schemes] demonstrate the growing recognition among our partners about the need to cooperate on our efforts to counter Hezbollah’s global terrorist networks.” [Al Arabiya English]
PM-Designate Meets with President Over Cabinet Formation According to Naharnet, “Al-Jadeed said that Aoun, during the meeting, proposed to Mikati the idea of expanding the government from 24 to 30 ministers, including political members and ministers of state. It added that the two leaders discussed in the meeting the structure of the government rather than the names of the ministers.” [Naharnet]
Caretaker Minister: Bread Smuggling to Syria Rampant According to Caretaker Minister of Economy and Trade, Amin Salam, bread bundles are being smuggled across the border into Syria as part of a larger scheme involving illegal stockpiling of supplies at a time when Lebanon has been experiencing bread and flour shortages. [L’Orient Today]
OPINION & ANALYSIS
To Deal Or Not To Deal – The Maritime Boundary Negotiations Adnan Nasser
Nasser writes, “Reports from international media indicate that Lebanon may be ready to consider compromising with Israel over resolution of the disputed areas to achieve a final deal over their shared maritime gas resources. The information was leaked to Reuters by three Lebanese officials with knowledge on the matter. American Senior Energy Advisor, Amos Hochstein is mediating on behalf of the United States since, technically, Israel and Lebanon are still at war and have not participated in direct negotiations that would bring about an acceptable settlement.”
L’Orient Today It Takes Lebanon An Average Of 111 Days To Form A Government Salah Hijazi
Hijazi writes, “Since the end of the Syrian tutelage over Lebanon and the withdrawal of the Syria regime’s troops on April 26, 2005, the formation of a government and its entry into service (after the vote of confidence in Parliament) takes an average of 111 days, according to calculations by L’Orient-Le Jour. The Tripolitan billionaire could therefore have difficulty forming a cabinet, especially in the face of some political actors’ intransigence. The stakes are high: the presidential election, scheduled to begin at the end of August, two months before Aoun’s term in office expires, may not take place. In the event of a presidential vacuum, the president’s prerogatives would constitutionally fall to the cabinet. This situation once again highlights one of the main causes of the Lebanese crisis: the impossibility of governance due to a practice that has continued to drift since the Taif Agreement and that requires an accord between all parties. This is a look back at all the times the logic of compromise or vacuum had the upper hand.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a non-profit, nonpartisan leadership organization of Lebanese-Americans.
