Lebanon will not accept harm to oil interests

Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri said in remarks published on Friday that he told the Cypriot leaders he met that "Lebanon will not accept any agreement between Cyprus and Israel that could harm Lebanon’s oil interests." "It was a good step to visit Cyprus at this moment," Berri also told Lebanon's An-Nahar newspaper. He also said that "Lebanon has the right to be briefed on the agreement signed between Cyprus and Israel." In 2010, Israel and the internationally recognized Cyprus Republic signed an agreement for the delimitation of their maritime economic zones in the Mediterranean. The Lebanese Parliament in August 2010 passed an oil exploration bill, which calls for the establishment of a treasury and a committee to oversee exploration and drilling off the coast of Lebanon.