On February 23, 2022, Major. General Bassam Yassin, the head of the Lebanese negotiation team charged with representing the country at US-mediated indirect talks with Israel over the two countries’ maritime boundary, wrote the following post on his Facebook page: “The letter that Lebanon had sent on January 28, 2022 to the UN indicating that the region between the lines 23 and 29 is a disputed zone has been taken down from the official website of the [UN] Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. We hope that this is a technical mistake and that the letter will be re-published within hours. Otherwise, who was behind this decision to take down an official Lebanese document that preserves the rights of the Lebanese people in their resources, which is estimated at billions of dollars between lines 23 and 29?”
It should be noted that “Line 23” represents the current legal claim deposited at the UN but that Lebanon had recently sent a letter to the UN, referenced by Yassin, which asserted that a line further south towards Israel - “Line 29” - was set to be claimed and that therefore all of the area between Line 23 and Line 29 was now effectively “disputed.”
The area in question likely contains significant energy resources which both Lebanon and Israel are keen to exploit.
The main Lebanese websites that carried this piece of news were: Al-Markaziya (https://tinyurl.com/yk26y6yp) and IMLebanon (https://tinyurl.com/yc769s8e) while New TV website (https://tinyurl.com/4sptwap9) cited Lebanon's permanent delegate at the United Nations, Amal Moudallali, who stressed that the Lebanese delegation at the UN did not ask for the letter to be taken down, adding that she knows nothing about this "and we will bring this to the UN's attention."
Soon thereafter, the minister of foreign affairs and emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, told journalists about the possibility that the "UN website was pirated [hacked]!" (https://tinyurl.com/4cnvuvfv)
Hours after this controversial statement, the Lebanese ministry of foreign affairs and emigrants released a statement blaming journalists for failing to verify the piece of news before publishing it and adding that the Lebanese letter is still featured on the UN's website. When we asked one Lebanese diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous, about the “pirated” letter, the offical said: “We mistakenly thought that was the case but it then turned out that the Lebanese letter is still there!” Subsequently, the ministry posted a link showing that the letter was present on the page of the UN's digital library - although not in its original place via the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.
Major General Yassin then quickly shot back on Facebook, arguing: "It is of no importance for Lebanon that the letter is kept in the UN's digital library which is hard to reach for anyone. The latter was taken down from the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, which is an easily accessible website to all states. This deletion is not aligned with Lebanon's request in the above-mentioned letter. It should be noted that all letters sent from all states pertaining to maritime borders’ conflicts are published on this website based on these states’ requests. Why was this latter intentionally deleted from this website, which is the main source for all companies and states to obtain information on the maritime borders' situation between countries? And why was the letter merely placed in the digital library, which is hard to access? Who asked for this? And in what capacity? What is the reason behind this ruse and whose interests does it serve? I demand that the letter be re-published right away because it serves Lebanon's interests and opposes the Israeli interests, in addition to informing the Lebanese people about the identity of the parties behind the deletion of the letter.”
On February 26, the head of the negotiating delegation, Major General Yassin, then wrote a new post on his Facebook page, saying: “The letter indicating that the area between lines 23 and 29 is a disputed zone has been re-posted on the electronic website of the UN's Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. Rights will not be lost as long as someone is demanding them."
The link to the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea with the original Lebanese letter of January 28 re-posted is available here:
https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/STATEFILES/LBN.htm
Fact Check Assessment: False
Speculation by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abou Habib about the possibility that the UN's website was “pirated” or hacked is merely that - speculation, which, it should be added, no UN official ever corroborated or even saw fit to address as a serious claim. The letter was indeed taken down from the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea at some point after its original publication - for unknown reasons - but was kept in the archives of the UN's digital library before being re-published on the UN's website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea on February 26, 2022.
