by arabnews.com -- MOHAMMED ABU ZAID -- Saudi Arabia announced it would deposit $5bn with the Central Bank of Egypt to support Cairo’s foreign exchange reserves, after the economy was affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine The value of the Egyptian pound has fallen since the outbreak of the war by more than 20 percent, with the country also heavily reliant on grain exports from Ukraine

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has praised Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their financial assistance in response to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Speaking to the media at the inauguration of a series of dairy production facilities and slaughterhouses in Sadat City, in response to a question about the support provided by the Kingdom and the UAE, the president said that the two Gulf states “moved together” without a request from Cairo. In March, Saudi Arabia announced it would deposit $5 billion with the Central Bank of Egypt to contribute to supporting Cairo’s foreign exchange reserves, after the Egyptian economy was affected by the Russian invasion.

by AFP -- BEIRUT: Lebanon Tuesday made a new offer to a visiting US mediator over a maritime border deal with Israel, holding back on demands for territory where Israel plans to imminently extract gas, an official said. Beirut’s proposal however included a claim for all of a separate field that it had initially only sought part of, the official close to the negotiations said. The new offer was made during meetings between Lebanon’s top leaders and US envoy Amos Hochstein, who landed in Beirut on Monday to relaunch indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel after a year-long pause. Lebanese authorities last week had requested Hochstein visit after a gas production vessel arrived in Israel to launch extraction operations in the Karish offshore field, drawing condemnation from Lebanon, which had laid claim to parts of it.

But in meetings Tuesday with Hochstein, Lebanon’s top leaders pushed for the country’s maritime border to exclude Karish and include the whole of the nearby Qana field instead, the official close to the negotiations told AFP. “We want the entire Qana field,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue. Lebanon had initially demanded 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of territory in the disputed maritime area, including part of Qana. It then asked for an additional 1,430 square kilometers, also taking in part of Karish.

BEIRUT, by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily; (Reuters) - Lebanon is preparing to offer a compromise to U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein to resolve a dispute with Israel over maritime gas resources, three Lebanese officials with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters. Hochstein landed in Beirut on Monday at the invitation of the Lebanese government, which had objected to the arrival of a vessel operated by London-based Energean (ENOG.L) off the Mediterranean coast on June 5 to develop a gas field known as Karish. Israel says Karish is part of its exclusive economic zone, but Lebanon says the field is in contested waters and should not be developed until the two countries conclude their indirect talks to delineate their maritime borders. Those talks fizzled out last year after Lebanon pushed its claim in the disputed zone from a boundary known as "Line 23" further south to "Line 29," adding around 1,400 square km (540 square miles) to its claim, including part of Karish.

To overcome the impasse, Hochstein proposed a field-swap that would create an S-shaped boundary instead of a straight line, but Lebanon did not officially agree to the proposal, official sources said. Lebanon has insisted on renewing the indirect talks, but has not yet publicly announced whether it would stick to Line 29 as a starting position for those negotiations. The U.S. consider Line 29 a "non-starter," according to sources. Three Lebanese officials with knowledge of the internal process to finalise a government stance said that Lebanon would drop claims to Line 29.

The sources said President Michel Aoun would meet Hochstein on Tuesday morning and propose "Line 23, plus a little more." One of the officials specified that Aoun's position would be a claim to Line 23 in addition to 300 km sq that includes the Qana field, but not Karish. Aoun would demand that indirect talks resume as soon as possible and that Israel stop all works at Karish until negotiations are concluded, two of the officials said.

by AFP — The UN’s mission in Lebanon called Sunday for the country’s military to guarantee the security of its peacekeepers, alleging …