mr. silverman.you talked about the prospects for natural gas to be a boost for the lebanese economy, requires more than a caretaker government to make some decisions about accessing those oil fields which i guess would largely be in the mediterranean. could you expand a little bit of what these natural gas reserves might offer lebanon and how those could help the lebanese economy? >> we don't know exactly how large they are, but they're significant interest and it could be extensive. israel is on the other side of this and their resources are extensive what they found so far, as you know. so i think the interest is there, and it really could be a great, great boon. to the lebanese economy. there's no question about it. if it's handled the right way. and if they get in and move forward. because this is not a static market. i'm not the expert, but the experts at the work on this have explained to me into the lebanese that there is a finite number of investors, a finite amount of money that the interna

mr. silverman for providing one of those documents. and under remarks, it says historic resources and goes into the existing residents which burned and i do not believe is in itself a historic resource at this point, but it is in what could be a historic district and we have no information about that. there was no analysis of that and i would think that this building would not even be a contributing resource to that district, however, i would think that there would have been some consideration given to an analysis of the impact of the proposed project on the historic district itself. or a potential historic district since i understand this is not a recognized historic district, but under sequa the city does use the word "historic"" all the time. it's just an observation. thank you. >> commissioner hillis. >> do you want to talk about the deck? i don't have a huge issue with the deck, but if you set it back from their property line, it may be -- >> i think the greatest impact is if we pull the back of the deck forward towards the street

mr. silverman first to offer your testimony. accept your written testimony into the testimony. try to summarize within five then we will get if question and answer after plehn.l >> thank you for inviting me to testify on the situation in policy toward that very important country and volatile region. the hearing comes at an important moment. public discussion of lebanon as say in the united states is often focused primarily on the refugee the syrian flows into that country. that crisis that you witnessed recent d during your visit to lebanon represents an urgent imperative need. lebanon faces broader issues. the united states is helping lebanon respond to the lebanon's because future affects important u.s. nterests in the region which are obvious by the geographical nature of the location and neighborhood. the syrian conflict threatens lebanon to establi establishes lasting stability. formation of a government by the prime minister ater 10 months of gridlock is welcome new element for the lebanon necessary people and opportunity for the united to work d lebanon together to achie