U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has offered mediation between Lebanon and Israel to resume their border talks.
For the past few weeks, the U.S.-brokered maritime border demarcation talks that launched in October between Lebanon and Israel have lacked progress.
On November 30th, the latest scheduled negotiation session was postponed, reportedly for a few weeks, upon the request of the U.S.
However, the talks had reached a stalemate before the postponement, after Lebanon set its starting point for the negotiations.
On Tuesday, Secretary Pompeo expressed regret over the impasse in the talks, offering to mediate between Lebanon and Israel.
“Regrettably, despite goodwill on both sides, the parties remain far apart,” he said.
“The United States remains ready to mediate constructive discussions and urges both sides to negotiate based on the respective maritime claims both have previously deposited at the United Nations,” he added.
The impasse followed Israel’s accusation that Lebanon had changed its position regarding the maritime border 7 times, warning that it could lead to a “dead end” that would be damaging for the region.
The Israeli military has since installed a naval buoy within Lebanese waters in South Lebanon to mark its occupation of a disputed area of 860 kilometers.