Middle East & Africa | An alarming smell of gas

Mediterranean gas sends sparks flying between Lebanon and Israel

A row over exploration rights is turning violent

2JFR5T8 An Israeli military ship sails next to the production platform of Leviathan natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Haifa, northern Israel December 1, 2020. REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
|Jerusalem

In a region with no lack of eternal battlefields, the Mediterranean waters off the shores of Israel and Lebanon could become a new one. A row between the two countries over energy-exploration rights in a disputed triangle of the sea risks spiralling into war. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hizbullah, the Iranian-backed Shia movement based in southern Lebanon, warned on August 9th that “any arm” reaching out to rob Lebanon of its wealth “will be cut off”.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Fire hazard”

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