BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Lebanon’s president said on Tuesday a draft decree expanding its maritime claims in a dispute with the Zionist regime must be approved by the caretaker government, rejecting a request to grant it swift presidential approval. The dispute with the occupying regime over the maritime boundary has held up hydrocarbon exploration in a potentially gas-rich area of the eastern Mediterranean. The decree, approved by Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, defense minister and minister of public work on Monday, would add around 1,400 square km (540 square miles) to an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean claimed by Lebanon.