Middle East peace has become the West’s request which inherited the war

Written by – Elijah J. Magnier:

The thirst for energy and the protection of its sources reflected positively on the countries of the Middle East, as Western governments work hard to secure stability in oil and gas-producing countries.  The US-European sanctions imposed on Russia negatively impacted the western countries, which had sanctioned themselves first, along with the World, triggering unprecedented inflation worldwide. The Russian-US war over the Ukrainian territory undoubtedly weighs heavily on the world economy. Because the US and Europe are continuously begging for oil and gas from different sources, knocking on the doors of several nations, the Middle East, which is the source of a large part of the World’s energy, can now enjoy unexpected and rare stability. Following decades of wars, invasions, and conflicts in the Middle East, it is time for those responsible for the misery and killing of the population in that part of the World to be concerned about the future of this population and its security.

The Lebanese Hezbollah threatened to strike Israel and took the initiative for the first time by saying it won’t hesitate to declare war if Israel proceeded to extract gas from the Karish and Tamar fields. Well-informed sources say that the Secretary-General of the Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, assessed the situation to draw a conclusion, the most important of which is that Israel does not want war and will not attack it at present. Even more than that, Hezbollah assesses that the West and the US will not stand by Israel since it is now immersed in the calamity of searching for energy and is certainly not looking for another war, especially in the Middle East, on top of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Middle East represents a primary essential global energy source. The West is, therefore, currently in no position to see this line of supply disturbed by war or any other skirmish.

It is expected that Israel will stop extracting gas, and international companies will withdraw from these gas and oil fields for fear of a military confrontation, especially after Hezbollah sent several drones as a warning to strike the areas and the foreign exploration platforms. As if to make matters worse, the Israeli Navy recommended training foreign workers operating on gas extraction platforms to evacuate the site in case of war. Such a suggestion by the Israeli Navy caused panic among the foreign workers at the drilling platform. Oil companies called for an urgent meeting in France, at which Israel was informed that the workers would not remain present in a turbulent environment and that energy extraction requires security and stability. The state of alert between Hezbollah and Israel would push all companies to withdraw from the disputed maritime area until an official agreement is reached.

Here, the French leadership intervened to ask Israel to comply with Lebanon’s wishes and demarcate the maritime borders. Lebanon raised the ceiling of negotiations further to demand guarantees that foreign companies would start working in the Lebanese marine areas after signing and demarcating the boundaries, provided that there would be no delay in starting the exploration of energy sources in Lebanon. 

The Lebanese demands prompted France to intervene directly because it considers that the energy of the Middle East will eventually flow to Europe, which is looking for alternatives to Russian energy sources that it intends to abandon next year. Even the Egyptian ambassador in Lebanon played a role in defusing the Hezbollah-Israel tension, considering that Cairo plays a pivotal role in gathering energy in the Middle East from different sources to be sent to Europe.

Israel has never been in a similarly weak position before, succumbing to the threats of Hezbollah without pushing the World behind it to strike the organisation. However, the current situation requires calm because the countries that produce energy must remain stable for the coming years until energy prices stabilise and the turbulent markets calm down, in particular when the outcome of the war in Ukraine is unknown.

Moreover, in Libya, the local authorities announced that they intend to increase their oil production to reach one million and two hundred thousand barrels per day to meet the needs of global markets. Iraq also announced that it could increase its output by about 200 thousand barrels per day from the “Qurna-1” fields (which contain reserves of 20 million barrels of oil) if requested.On the same topic, during US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Riyadh announced that it could raise its production to 13.5 million barrels per day for only two months (July 

Proofread by: Maurice Brasher