Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that demarcating the disputed land border with Israel is the “responsibility” of the Lebanese state, expressing his readiness to cooperate in any step that would “liberate” the land.

This position comes after American envoy Amos Hockstein announced from Beirut at the end of last month that the time has come to demarcate the land borders between Lebanon and Israel after he supervised the demarcation of a maritime agreement between the two countries, which are still officially in a state of war.

The party welcomes "any step that helps liberate the land."

In a speech he delivered via screen during a celebration organized by the party in the southern suburb of Beirut, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Prophet’s birthday, Nasrallah said: “It is said that within days there may be new mediation on” the land border. He added: “For us, this issue is the responsibility of the Lebanese state. If the state accepts mediation and negotiation, then that is its business, and we are not interested in saying we accept this mediation or reject it, and we consider that we are outside this matter.”

But Nasrallah stressed at the same time that “any step that helps liberate the land will also receive solidarity and cooperation between the resistance and the state in the next stage, God willing,” similar to the demarcation of maritime borders. Stressing that "we take our right to water in full, and we take our right to land in full, and we do not bargain over it in any other files or titles."

The ceasefire line, known as the Blue Line, which was drawn by the United Nations in 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, includes 13 disputed points. From time to time, tensions arise on both sides of the border.

Last October, after long mediation led by Hockstein, Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement described as “historic” that stipulated the demarcation of maritime borders and the lifting of obstacles to exploration for oil and gas in the sea.

Hockstein, US President Joe Biden's senior advisor on energy affairs, said at the conclusion of a visit to Beirut at the end of September: “The time has come to review the framework (..) that allowed reaching a result on the land border level and also working on land peace.”

Under the maritime border demarcation agreement, a consortium of companies including France's Total Energies, Italy's Eni, and Qatar Energy began drilling in Block No. 9 on August 24.

“Indicators are positive in Block 9”

In this context, Nasrallah said: “Our preliminary information indicates that all indicators are positive in Block 9,” considering that the Ministry of Energy and Water’s announcement on Monday that the consortium of the three oil companies submitted two applications to participate in the second licensing round to bid on Blocks 8 and 10 in the Lebanese offshore waters from “Evidence of positive indicators.”

On the other hand, Nasrallah denounced the efforts of countries in the region to conclude normalization agreements with Israel without naming them, and said: “Whoever is the country that is heading towards normalization, when it signs a normalization agreement, it must be condemned and its work must be denounced.”

He believed that the matter was "very dangerous because it is an insult to the Palestinian people (...) and abandons Palestine and strengthens the enemy."

Nasrallah's position came the day after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced that the approach to be adopted towards Israel is "resistance" instead of "normalization and surrender." In September, Raisi considered that normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and the Hebrew state would be a “stab in the back” for the Palestinians.

Washington is holding discussions with Riyadh and Tel Aviv with the aim of normalizing relations between them.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently said that the Kingdom is “close” to concluding an agreement in this regard.