Lebanon warns neighbours against using disputed territory for Israel's EastMed gas pipeline
Lebanon on Thursday warned its Mediterranean neighbors that a planned EastMed gas pipeline from Israel to the European Union must not be allowed to violate its maritime borders.
Beirut has an unresolved maritime border dispute with Israel - which it regards as an enemy country - over a sea area of about 860 sq km (330 square miles) extending along the edge of three of Lebanon's southern energy blocks.
Israel is hoping to enlist several European countries in the construction of a 2,000 km (1,243 mile) pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe through Cyprus, Greece and Italy at a cost of $7 billion.
Lebanon's foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, said he had written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, EU foreign policy head Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Italy to request that the pipeline does not infringe on Lebanon's rights within what it claims as its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
