After intense negotiations under the aegis of the United States, Israel announced that it had reached a "historic" agreement with Lebanon to delimit their maritime border and remove key obstacles to the exploitation of gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.
For Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, this agreement "will strengthen Israel's security, inject billions (of euros) into the Israeli economy and ensure the stability of our northern border (with Lebanon)".
In Beirut, the Lebanese presidency indicated that the final version of the proposal was "satisfactory" for Lebanon.
"It responds to Lebanon's demands and preserves its right to its natural resources," she added, hoping that the agreement would be "announced as soon as possible".
The text provides that the Karish offshore deposit be under Israeli control and that the Cana reserves, located further north-east, be granted to Lebanon.
But as part of this deposit exceeds the future line of demarcation, the Jewish state would receive a share of the future income from the gas exploitation of Cana.
In a context where the European Union is seeking to diversify its gas supplies due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel is counting on the Karish field, ready to go into production, to boost its gas deliveries to the Old continent.
One of the main Lebanese negotiators in this case, Elias Bou Saab, assured Tuesday that there had been "an agreement between Total and the Israelis" under which the latter could "receive compensation" from the energy giant and not from the Lebanon.