Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani, left, and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam sign agreement to establish higher committee comprising ministers from both countries. (SANA)
Syria and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to establish a joint ministerial committee aimed at strengthening security coordination, expanding economic cooperation and advancing bilateral ties.
The agreement was signed in the Lebanese capital Beirut by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.
“Today, we finalized an agreement to establish a joint Syrian-Lebanese Higher Committee comprising ministers from both countries. The committee will meet regularly to strengthen bilateral cooperation,” Salam said at a joint press conference with Al-Shaibani.
Al-Shaibani said the body would provide a framework for expanding economic cooperation and strengthening security coordination.
“Our partnership with Lebanon will provide a platform for expanding economic cooperation and strengthening security coordination between our two countries,” he said.
Talks at Baabda Palace also focused on electricity interconnection, transportation , imports and exports and easing the movement of people between Syria and Lebanon, Salam told reporters.
Both sides also stressed the importance of respecting each other’s sovereignty.
Al-Shaibani described his visit to Beirut as a sign of Syria’s “support for Lebanon’s sovereignty and our commitment to building a healthy and constructive relationship between our two countries.”
He also voiced support for Lebanon’s stability and condemned the ongoing Israeli Hezbollah war on Lebanese territory.
Before the fall of Syria’s longterm ruler Bashar Assad, Syrian-Lebanese relations were shaped by decades of Syrian dominance, Lebanese resentment and periodic attempts to normalize ties.
Syria intervened in Lebanon’s civil war in 1976, kept troops and deep political influence there until 2005, and even after withdrawing remained deeply entangled in Lebanese politics and security affairs though Hezbollah .
When the Syrian civil war started in 2011, Lebanon was pulled back into its neighbor’s orbit in a different way, especially through Hezbollah’s intervention on Assad’s side.
After Assad’s fall on Dec. 8, 2024, in a rebel offensive that swept through large parts of the war-torn country, Syria and Lebanon moved into a cautious reset, with both sides talking more openly about sovereignty, normal state-to-state ties and practical cooperation on borders, detainees, refugees and trade, even though mistrust remained high.
Rules out intervention in Lebanon
Shaibani told Lebanon‘s president on Thursday that Damascus had no intention of intervening militarily in his country despite US pressure to do so, according to the Lebanese presidency.
Shaibani, who also invited President Joseph Aoun to Syria, met several Lebanese politicians including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Syria could “take care of Hezbollah”, criticising Israel‘s strategy in its war with the Iran-backed militia group.
Shaibani told Aoun he wanted “to clear up the confusion sparked by reports of a potential Syrian military intervention in Lebanon”, adding that “Syria had no intention of undertaking such a move”, the presidency said in a statement.
Syria and Lebanon are pursuing separate and parallel talks with Israel, rather than a joint negotiation
AN/ AFP
