BEIRUT (Dispatches) – The secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement says the Zionist regime will not be allowed to conduct drilling operations for oil and natural gas in the disputed area in the Mediterranean Sea until the Arab country gets what it deserves.
“Lebanon is facing a historic and golden opportunity to get out of its financial crisis. If we fail to take advantage of it, we would not be able to extract oil within the next 100 years. We are not looking for moral gains out of extraction in the Karish natural gas field. We rather want to tap into our oil reserves. There would, therefore, be no room for oil or gas extraction in the entire region if Lebanon does not get its right,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed a group of Shia Muslim preachers and scholars in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Tuesday.
He said the issue is of greater importance today, as it comes in light of Europe’s need for oil and gas amid the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s move to stop sending gas to several European countries.
The Hezbollah chief went on to stress that Lebanon does not want a war, but will not permit the Zionist regime to violate its inalienable rights.
“We would not like to cause a new military confrontation. We are only demanding our rights. We are pushing up the costs for Americans and Israelis in order to force them into surrender, because Lebanon is on path to collapse,” Nasrallah warned.
Nasrallah highlighted that Amos Hochstein, the U.S. mediator for indirect talks for the maritime dispute, has not yet come up with an initiative.
“Even though Lebanon has offered great concessions, it has not achieved anything tangible yet,” the Hezbollah leader said.
Earlier this month, Nasrallah said Hezbollah would not remain “silent” in the face of the occupying regime’s efforts to plunder Lebanon’s maritime energy resources.
Lebanese politicians hope that commercially viable hydrocarbon resources off Lebanon’s coast could help the debt-ridden country out of its worst economic crisis in decades.