US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut under the guise of inaugurating operations at a marine gas field, but also tasked with a much bigger mission, Western diplomatic sources revealed to Lebanese daily Addiyar.

Hochstein would reportedly visit around mid-August, alongside the start of drilling at the Block No. 9 gas field that was part of a border agreement last year with the Zionist entity.

Furthermore, according to Addiyar, the U.S diplomat will also “feel the pulse” for demarcating a land border with Israel in particular, and advancing normalization in general.

The Western diplomatic sources said that the US State Department was “interested” in solving the lander border issue, after demarcating the maritime borders.

“And since Hochstein has also been involved in the normalization talks with Saudi Arabia, he will take the option to Beirut, too,” according to the sources.

The US envoy will “inform Lebanese officials that Lebanon will pay the price for remaining outside the Arab climate and will be an outcast,” the Beirut-based Addiyar was told, adding that Riyadh was already “on the way” to official relations with the Zionist entity and it would only be a “matter of time.”

Citing prominent political sources, the Lebanese newspaper said the approach would be “worrisome, because it will increase pressure on Lebanon,” despite Washington knowing “the difficulty of achieving this,” and finally describing it as yet another “unsolvable crisis” for the country.

Source: Agencies