BEIRUT, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Satterfield on Friday held extensive talks with senior Lebanese officials to discuss the tensions between Lebanon and Israel.
Satterfield met with Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, separately, one day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's one-day visit to Lebanon.
Satterfield first met with Bassil at the foreign ministry. He left the meeting without making a statement.
The talks focused on the heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel over the exploration of the oil and gas reserves in their disputed maritime border and Israel's construction of a border wall that Lebanon says violates its territorial integrity, media reports said.
Satterfield will head to Israel in the next 48 hours to pursue mediation on the Lebanon-Israel disputes, the LBCI TV reported.
The U.S. diplomat later held separate talks with Berri and Hariri. No details were provided about the content and results of these meetings.
Tillerson announced Thursday that "constructive" talks were underway on how to break the stalemate between Lebanon and Israel over gas drilling rights along the disputed maritime border and maintain calm along their volatile frontier.
The U.S. has been trying to mediate in the dispute, as Tillerson suggested Israel stop building a border wall until the border demarcation between the two countries is agreed on.
