According to "Al-Akhbar," President Michel Aoun conducted a phone call with Syrian President Bashar Assad two days ago, discussing bilateral relations and the issue of maritime border demarcation. They agreed to form official delegations from the ministries and official bodies of both countries to hold meetings in Beirut and Damascus to quickly reach an agreement, especially since the points of dispute are not unresolvable, although they require technical and legal discussion. Aoun and Assad confirmed that the Lebanese-Syrian discussions regarding the border demarcation will occur without any mediators and that any agreements reached will be documented as a treaty between the two countries, which will not resemble the arrangements made with Israel — there will be no American mediator, nor will there be a need for international or UN guarantees, or indirect negotiations.
The relevant authorities in both countries have started preparing documents related to the coordinates and lines of the exclusive economic zones for both sides. In a related matter, Lebanon received an official message from the Cypriot Foreign Ministry urging the initiation of dialogue between the two sides to reorganize matters in light of the agreements reached between Lebanon and the occupying entity. Lebanon has requested the Cypriot authorities to postpone sending an official delegation to Beirut until the end of next week, pending the establishment of the maritime agreement with the occupying entity, which would facilitate discussions with Cyprus under the title of "correcting points and coordinates" before resubmitting them to the United Nations.
Informed sources indicated that the outstanding issue with Cyprus is now confined to transferring the coordinates that were based on the enemy’s actions when it adopted Line 1, to the new coordinates following the establishment of Line 23 by both the Lebanese and Israeli sides. The ongoing preliminary discussions revolve around whether there is a necessity for formal or technical negotiations with the Cypriot side, or if it suffices for President Aoun to send a message to his Cypriot counterpart requesting an amendment to the annex of the 2007 agreement regarding the border coordinates. Subsequently, this would allow for the replacement of the attached document without the need for any discussions. Moreover, there will be a request for the Cypriot authorities to inform Israel of the new agreement with Lebanon, and consequently, to ask Cyprus to modify its agreement with Israel based on the new points established with Lebanon.
