A diplomatic source told Reuters today, Monday, that the Syrian government canceled a visit scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, for a Lebanese delegation to Damascus to discuss the demarcation of the maritime borders between the two countries.
The source added that the Syrian government sent a letter today to the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the time is not appropriate for such a visit.
A statement by the Lebanese presidency had stated that President Michel Aoun had assigned Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab to head the delegation to Damascus to hold meetings with senior officials in Syria on the issue of maritime demarcation between the two countries.
And last year, a dispute arose over the joint maritime border between the two countries, after Syria granted a license to a Russian energy company to start offshore exploration in an area that Lebanon claims to belong to, at a time when it announced important discoveries of gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.
This development comes days after Lebanon accomplished a historic agreement on the issue of demarcating the maritime borders with Israel, which was widely welcomed regionally and internationally.
The US mediator between Lebanon and Israel, Amos Hochstein, said that the signing ceremony of the maritime border demarcation agreement between the two countries will take place next Thursday.