Satterfield Meets Berri, Hariri and Bassil

U.S. Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Satterfield held separate talks on Friday with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil one day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with senior Lebanese officials during a one-day visit to Lebanon.

Satterfield, accompanied by the US ambassador to Lebanon, first met with Bassil at the foreign ministry. He left the meeting without making a statement.

Reports said the talks focused on heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel over oil and gas reserves and Israel's construction of a border wall that Lebanon says encroaches on its territory.

LBCI TV station said “Satterfield will head to Israel in the next 48 hours to pursue mediation on the file.”

The US diplomat later held separate talks with Berri and Hariri.

The National News Agency said Berri held onto his stance on "the demarcation of the maritime border by the tripartite committee that emerged from the April 1996 Agreement the same as happened with the Blue Line."

The Speaker also described the U.S. proposals as "unacceptable."

Tillerson had announced on Thursday that there are "constructive" discussions underway on how to break a "stalemate" between Lebanon and Israel over gas drilling rights along the countries' disputed maritime border and maintain calm along the volatile frontier.

The U.S. has been trying to mediate in the dispute, and Tillerson suggested Israel should stop building a border wall until the border between the two countries is agreed on.