Maritime Negotiations and Unanswered Questions: The Equation of Qana versus Karish in Lebanon-Israel Relations

Before the agreement to demarcate maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel, Hezbollah announced that it stood behind the Lebanese state in these negotiations regarding the maritime border and launched the equation of Qana versus Karish.

On October 31 of last year, Lebanon concluded a maritime border agreement along Line 23 with US mediation led by Amos Hochstein.

Hezbollah gave the green light to the result, and Lebanon, under this line, gained rights to the Qana field with revenues going to Israel from any discovery in which Total obtains a share.
It's worth noting that on the second day of the agreement, Israel began extracting gas and oil from the Karish field.

This agreement was considered a guarantee of stability between Lebanon and Israel. Israelis fear for the gas and oil in their fields. At the same time, expectations suggested that Lebanon might discover gas and oil in the Qana field, giving it something to fear as well.

After nearly a year since this agreement, neither gas nor oil has been discovered in the first well drilled in Bloc 9, at least according to Total. Meanwhile, Israel continues its work in the Karish field, which is about 6 kilometers away from the drilling site in Bloc 9.

What will happen today? Will we return to the equation of Qana versus Karish? Hezbollah, preoccupied with operation "Al-Aqsa flood," has not yet commented on the drilling results in Bloc 9, and everyone remains awaiting the political course that will be drawn.

In this context, in the last hours, the return of the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, to the previous equation has drawn attention.

Does this statement indicate a withdrawal from the agreement to demarcate the borders with the potential field implications? And do the offers made on Blocs 8 and 10 aim to avoid returning to the equation of Qana versus Karish?