Lebanon and Israel held a short opening round of indirect talks over their disputed maritime border on Wednesday, breaking up after an hour with Lebanese state media reporting a second round to be held on October 28.
Wednesday’s session was mediated by US officials and both sides insisted the series of talks are purely technical and not a sign of any normalisation of ties.
The opening round of discussions was held at the headquarters of UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura.
The talks came against the backdrop of Lebanon’s spiralling economic crisis, the worst in its modern history and following a wave of US sanctions that recently included two influential former cabinet ministers allied with the armed Hezbollah group.
Israel, the US, as well as some other Western and Arab countries consider the Iran-allied Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.
Israel has said that there will be “direct negotiations”, something Lebanese officials have denied.
Israel sent a six-member team, including the director-general of its energy ministry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser and the head of the army’s strategic division.
Lebanon’s four-member delegation comprised two army officers, a Lebanese oil official and a maritime border law expert.
