Syria and Lebanon pledge strong ties after years of tensions
Syria-Lebanon Relations 2025: Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati pledged lasting ties on Saturday in the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since the civil war broke out in 2011.
The visit by Lebanese Prime Minister Mikati comes after Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus and toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month.
Previously, successive Lebanese governments had avoided visiting Syria due to tensions at home over the militant armed group Hezbollah’s support for Assad during the conflict.
Syria’s new leader, Salah al-Sharif, said he wanted to open a new chapter in bilateral relations, days after crisis-ridden Lebanon elected a new president, Joseph Aoun, after a two-year power vacuum.
“We will have a long-term strategic relationship with Lebanon. We have significant common interests with Lebanon,” said Shara.
He said it was time to “give the Syrian and Lebanese people a chance to build positive relations” and hoped Joseph Aoun’s presidency would bring an era of stability to Lebanon.
Shara said the new Syria would “maintain an equidistant position” in Lebanon’s affairs and “try to resolve issues through negotiations and dialogue.”
Mikati said that relations between the two countries should be based on “mutual respect, equality, and national sovereignty.”
The new Syrian authorities also said that Shara had called Aoun on Saturday to congratulate him on his inauguration as president.
Syria dominated Lebanon for three decades under the Assad family. Former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad intervened in Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and his son Bashar al-Assad did not withdraw troops from Lebanon until 2005 when the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri sparked mass protests.
Mikati also said one of the priorities is to “delineate the land and maritime borders between Lebanon and Syria” and called for the establishment of a joint committee to discuss the matter. Syria had repeatedly refused to delineate its border with Lebanon under Assad’s rule.
Lebanon has been hoping to demarcate its maritime border with Syria to begin gas extraction after reaching a similar agreement with Israel in 2022.
The Lebanese prime minister added that both sides stressed the need for “full control of the land border, especially illegal border points, to curb smuggling.”
Syria shares a 330-kilometer border with Lebanon, which is not formally demarcated in many places, making the border porous and easy for smuggling.
Last week, Syria imposed new restrictions on the entry of Lebanese citizens after the Lebanese military said it had skirmished with unnamed Syrian fighters on the border.
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