A tense first session in committee over bank restructuring
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L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Aoun chairs first meeting of committee tasked with Cyprus border negotiations
BEIRUT — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun chaired on Thursday the first meeting of the committee tasked with negotiating with Cyprus to demarcate the maritime borders of the exclusive economic zone between the two countries, according to a statement released by the Lebanese Presidency. The committee is headed by Public Works Minister Fayez Rasamni. According to the Presidency, the "principles to be adopted in the negotiations were presented with the aim of reaching an agreement." Talks on the Lebanon-Cyprus maritime border date back to 2007, when the two sides drafted an initial agreement setting their southern maritime tripoint with Israel at point 1, off Naqoura. But the Lebanese Parliament never ratified the agreement due to Turkish pressure. In 2011, Lebanon submitted Decree No. 6433 to the U.N., defining its EEZ unilaterally between point 23 (south) and point 7 (north). These key coordinates mark the EEZ boundaries with Israel and Syria. Point 23 is especially crucial — it defines Lebanon's southern maritime limit where its waters intersect with the Cypriot and Israeli EEZs. In June 2024, around three months before his assassination, Hezbollah's former Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, attacked Cyprus, warning it against "opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy," in the event of a wider war between the group and Israel. The warnings issued by the secretary-general of the party provoked numerous reactions from the political class in Beirut and the Cypriot authorities. Despite this episode, ties between Lebanon and Cyprus have been growing recently. Last month, Joseph Aoun met in Nicosia with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides to discuss ways to deepen cooperation between the two countries across various sectors. In late April, Cypriot Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades announced the launch of a ferry line between Lebanon and Cyprus, expected to begin service soon. Moreover, Cyprus recently proposed to lay a submarine cable to supply electricity from Cyprus to Lebanon.
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Berri: Relationship with President Aoun is stronger than any decision
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's discontent following Tuesday's Cabinet decision to assign the army the task of drafting a plan for disarming Hezbollah and other armed groups by year's end will not cause a rupture with President Joseph Aoun. This is according to a statement released Wednesday evening by Berri's office, "in response to information circulated by certain television channels," published by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). "The relationship between President [of Parliament] Berri and President of the Republic Joseph Aoun is much stronger than a meeting or meetings [of Cabinet]," the brief statement reads. Meanwhile, the newspaper Al Joumhouria cited "visitors to Ain al-Tineh [the seat of the presidency of Parliament]," who reported Berri's "discontent," which he "does not express directly." Still, according to these sources, he affirmed that "the National Pact is more important than all opinions and all decisions." "We will not be among those who open the door to violations of the National Pact," he is also said to have declared. The disarmament of Hezbollah has been a central topic of discussion since the party weakened after the latest conflict with Israel in 2024. Both Joseph Aoun's inaugural address in January 2025 and Nawaf Salam's cabinet ministerial statement in February, which includes the Shiite duo, mention the state's exclusive monopoly on arms. Hezbollah has so far rejected the idea of disarmament, which is also a focus of U.S. pressure on the Lebanese government, and supports debate around a "national defense strategy." A Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the American roadmap provided to the Lebanese authorities by U.S. envoy Joseph Barrack. It is still uncertain whether the ministers from the Shiite duo will attend.
LBCI
4 days ago
- LBCI
Turkey sets up parliamentary commission to oversee PKK disarmament
Turkey's parliament launched a commission on Tuesday to oversee the disarmament of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group following its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan's call for it to end its insurgency. Thirty PKK militants burned their weapons in a ceremony in northern Iraq last month, marking a symbolic first step towards ending a decades-long struggle with Turkey in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus told lawmakers at the opening of the first session that one of the commission's responsibilities would be to oversee the disarmament process. "With the complete disarmament, the preparation of legal regulations that will make peace permanent is also among the responsibilities of this commission," Kurtulmus said.
