The absence of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri from the meeting between Presidents Michel Aoun and Najib Mikati in Baabda has solidified the lack of a unified stance among the three branches of the Lebanese authority regarding the official response to the southern maritime border demarcation. This demarcation is awaited by the American mediator Amos Hochstein, who is returning to Beirut today or tomorrow for answers regarding his previous proposals.
According to "Al-Anbaa," the stance that will be communicated to Hochstein is that Lebanon will not accept anything less than Line 23, including the entire Qana field. There is a call for a quick return to indirect negotiations in Naqoura to reach an agreement, particularly as Israel's commencement of gas extraction from the Karish field prior to an agreement on demarcating the borders poses a threat to international peace and security.
Berri's apology for not attending was attributed to the fact that the negotiation file has now fallen under President Aoun's purview; thus, there is no need for a meeting to produce a stance on behalf of the three presidents, especially since Berri considers himself the "father of the framework agreement" upon which the indirect negotiations were based, and which entrusted the task of delineating the maritime borders to these negotiations.
Parliamentary circles believe that President Aoun is trying to assert his control over this file during the meeting, which may be unnecessary, as Berri had previously disengaged from it.
Sources monitoring the situation interpret Berri's stance on the Baabda meeting as an implicit declaration of ending the coalition effects, quietly, with President Aoun and his team formed through Hezbollah during the parliamentary elections, the election of the speaker, and the vice-presidency, as well as the chairpersons and members of the parliamentary committees. This suggests that such coalitions will not extend to other upcoming elections, from government formation to the election of a new president.
The three presidents converge at maritime Line 23, serving as a boundary between Lebanon and Israel. It appears that the Parliament Speaker does not wish to engage in the ongoing debates surrounding Line 29 or others, especially after the President announced that negotiations of an international nature are solely his concern. Thus, the American mediator may arrive in Beirut without ready responses to his demarcation and political proposals, following three months since his departure from Lebanon.
