Lebanese Parliament speaker: Israeli oil exploration violating maritime border

The speaker of the Lebanese parliament says Israel’s oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean is breaching Lebanon’s territorial waters, according to reports.

Nabih Berri tells lawmakers that Israel has “outsourced and exploited a block adjacent to Lebanon’s southern maritime border,” according to Lebanon’s Naharnet news site.

He says the move “represents an attack on Lebanese sovereignty and it target[s] against our oil wealth and [territorial] waters.”

Berri tells colleagues that “we cannot remain silent over this issue,” and vows to raise the Israeli moves with the visiting Italian prime minister later this week.

Ths US has sought to mediate the oil and gas dispute between the two neighbors — which are technically still at war — who both claim the energy reserves off the coasts of Lebanon and Israel.