The Israel-Lebanon border at Rosh Hanikra. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a framework for US-mediated talks aimed at ending a long-running dispute along the border between the two nations that have fought several conflicts.

Still in a formal state of war, Lebanon and Israel have contested their land and maritime borders for decades, namely over an area in the sea on the edge of three Lebanese offshore energy blocks. Israel said the talks would cover the sea border.

Washington has mediated between the two sides.

“This is a framework agreement, not a final one,” Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told reporters, less than a month after the United States imposed sanctions on his top aide for corruption and financially enabling Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim organization blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist group.

Hezbollah last fought a war with Israel in 2006.

The announcement comes with Lebanon facing its worst crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. The country’s financial meltdown was compounded by a massive port explosion that wrecked a swathe of Beirut in August, killing nearly 200 people.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz confirmed the two sides would hold US-brokered talks on the maritime border, a major point of contention. He said negotiations were expected to start after Oct. 9.

The US State Department said it “welcomes the decision by the governments of Israel and Lebanon to begin discussions on the maritime boundary,” adding that the framework agreement for talks had taken three years of diplomacy to achieve.

We welcome today’s announcement by Israel and Lebanon on their agreement to begin discussions on the maritime boundary. This offers the potential for greater stability, security, and prosperity for citizens in both nations.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 1, 2020

It follows deals signed last month, brokered by Washington, between Israel and two Gulf Arab states to normalize relations.

Berri, a Hezbollah ally and influential Shi’ite leader in charge of the border file, said talks would be held under the auspices of the United Nations at a UN base in Naqoura near the boundary with Israel, known as the Blue Line.

He told a news conference in Beirut that Washington would push for agreement as soon as possible.

Berri mentioned the land and maritime border at the news conference, while Israel and the United States only mentioned the maritime boundary. One reason previous efforts to launch talks floundered was the two sides disagreeing over which frontier to discuss, analysts say.

A Lebanese official source suggested Berri was prompted to make the announcement now because of the economic crisis and US sanctions imposed last month on his right-hand man, Ali Hassan Khalil. A Western diplomat echoed this.

Berri denied being swayed. “I, Berri, cannot be softened by force,” he told reporters.

In 2018, Beirut licensed a group of Italy’s Eni, France’s Total and Russia’s Novatek to carry out Lebanon’s first offshore energy exploration in two blocks. One of them, Block 9, contains waters disputed with Israel.

Berri said he had asked French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been at the center of foreign efforts to help Lebanon out of crisis, to press Total not to delay exploration for gas in the offshore area.

As well as the maritime border row, the two countries disagree over a border wall Israel started building in 2018. A UN peacekeeping force monitors the boundary since Israel‘s military withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000.