• President Michel Aoun announced Beirut’s approval of the US demarcation proposal, saying the agreement would “lift Lebanon from the abyss in which it was plunged”
• Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid described the agreement as “historic”

Najia Houssari

BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel will sign an agreement on demarcating their maritime border on Oct. 27, a source in the Lebanese presidency told Arab News on Sunday.

“Arrangements have begun to be made in (the city of) Naqoura, where the UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) headquarters are, to receive the delegations of the two countries to sign separately the agreement document and hand over a copy of it to the American side and a copy to the UN,” the source said.

“American mediator Amos Hochstein will come to Naqoura to attend the signing process.”

On Oct. 11, President Michel Aoun announced Beirut’s approval of the US demarcation proposal, saying the agreement would “lift Lebanon from the abyss in which it was plunged.”

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid described the agreement as “historic.”

The Lebanese and Israeli sides, through American mediation, engaged in indirect negotiations that lasted two years.