'90% of demarcation file finalized' as veteran diplomat says no war

Ninety percent of the file of sea border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel has become finalized, al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted informed high-ranking sources as saying in remarks published Saturday.

A veteran diplomat meanwhile told the daily that “no war is expected to erupt in south Lebanon nor on other fronts in the region, because it would spiral out of everyone’s control, especially should it erupt on the southern front and spread to other fronts.”

“The United States has no interest in any new wars in the region, at a time it is strongly seeking to pacify things and push for finalizing normalization between some Arab countries and Israel,” the diplomat said.

“Among the reasons why the war will not happen is that Israel is incapable of fighting such a war without obtaining a prior U.S. permission,” the diplomat added.

The diplomat also stressed that “an agreement over sea border demarcation will take place and will allow Lebanon to obtain its border and oil and gas rights, seeing as things are moving forward as planned.”