...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch...and Israel formally concluded a "historic" maritime border deal on Thursday in the presence of U.S. officials, U.S. President Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S. Being a self-defined foreign policy whiz kid means never having to say you're sorry...
said.
"Both parties took the final steps to bring the agreement into force and submitted the final paperwork to the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
in the presence of the United States," Biden said in a statement.
The accord between Israel and energy-starved Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, was brokered through mediation of a U.S. envoy, Amos Hochstein, who was attending the exchange of letters in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.
Biden said the "historic agreement" benefitted both countries.
"This agreement takes us one step closer to realizing a vision for a Middle East that is more secure, integrated and prosperous, delivering benefits for all the people of the region," Biden said.
Nasrallah says Lebanon's deal with Israel 'not normalization'
[An Nahar]
Hezbollah will end an "exceptional" mobilization against Israel after threatening to attack for months, its leader Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...said Thursday after Lebanon and Israel struck a maritime border deal.
"All the exceptional and special measures and mobilization carried out by the resistance for several months are now declared over," Nasrallah said in a televised speech, calling the agreement a "very big victory for Lebanon and its state, people and resistance."
"Our mission is complete," Nasrallah said, adding that the deal "is not an international treaty and it is not a recognition of Israel."
"Israel received no security guarantees," the Hezbollah leader stressed.
The agreement between the countries, which are still technically at war, was applauded by world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden.
It was signed separately on Thursday by Lebanon's President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
in Beirut and by Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, and went into effect after the papers were delivered to mediators.
Earlier in the day Lapid had claimed that the deal meant Lebanon de facto "recognizes the State of Israel, in a written agreement."
Aoun had retorted that the deal had no "political implications."
The United States-mediated deal is set to unlock potential off-shore gas resources for Lebanon, at a time when the country is reeling from three years of grueling economic crisis.
It also streamlines gas production for Israel, as Hezbollah had threatened it with attacks should it begin work in the disputed area before a deal was signed.
Jumblat says border deal confirms "truce"
[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid
WallyJumblat
...Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...asked Thursday why the army was absent from the demarcation deal, considering that the deal confirms the "truce."
"Where is the sovereign wealth fund," Jumblat also asked, in a tweet.
The PSP leader added that the officials' moves are "suspicious."
"As if it is a new financial engineering operation that is destined to failure," he went on to say.