Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam discussed security co-operation with Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara at a meeting in Damascus, official media said, in the first such high-level visit by an official in the Beirut government for more than a year.
The state news agency Sana said the pair discussed “boosting security co-operation to support stability and deal with the challenges”, without disclosing details.
The visit is taking place after Syria sent elite troops to the border with Lebanon at the outset of the recent regional conflict involving Iran and Israel, and amid increased divisions in Lebanon's confessional political system, which has been historically linked to developments across the border in Syria. The Sunni Prime Minister and the Maronite President in Beirut have come out in favour of talks with US-mediated discussions with Israel, a process rejected by the Iranian-backed Shiite group Hezbollah.
Last week, Syrian authorities arrested 11 men linked to what Damascus described as a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate members of Mr Al Shara's government. Mr Al Shara's swift ouster of the old regime in December 2024 removed Syria from the Iranian and Russian orbit and ushered in Sunni political ascendancy in the country.
A Syrian official said Mr Al Shara and Mr Salam discussed expanding nascent co-operation on smuggling and other border security issues that started last year under US auspices. The two men also discussed Lebanese government efforts to overcome opposition by Hezbollah to talks with Israel and rising domestic tension, he said. The US has been pushing for both Damascus and Beirut to engage in expanded talks with Israel.
Hezbollah is in a war of attrition with Israel despite a truce last month that curbed Israeli attacks on Beirut. The war started when Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel in support of Iran, after the death of former supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The US declared a ceasefire shortly after mediating preparatory peace talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington last week.
Mr Al Shara sent the troops to parts of the border with Lebanon to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, which, together with Tehran, has had a strong influence on Lebanon’s foreign policy for decades. Although Syrian officials said the troop posting was defensive, pro-Hezbollah politicians in Lebanon regard it as a possible preparation by Syria to enter areas controlled by the group.
However, many Lebanese Sunnis, especially in Tripoli and Sidon, see in Mr Al Shara an ally who could help redress the waning of Sunni political influence in the country since the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. Three years later, Hezbollah extended its dominance after a week of sectarian warfare that threatened to plunge Lebanon into a second civil war.
Mr Salam arrived by plane to Damascus, accompanied by deputy prime minister Tareq Mitri, and the ministers of energy, economy and public works, who held meetings with their Syrian officials at the presidential palace. Situated on a hilltop, the palace was built by the slain Mr Hariri as a gift to Hafez Al Assad. An international tribunal sentenced three Hezbollah operatives for life imprisonment in absentia for their role in his 2005 assassination. Notably absent from the meetings was Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, a fierce critic of Hezbollah and Iran, but whose role in shaping the country's foreign position is limited by the power of the group.
The last time Mr Salam was in Damascus was in April last year, three months after Mr Al Shara was declared Syria's leader. In the last years of Bashar Al Assad's rule, the US briefly supported supplying Lebanon with power and energy though regional networks passing through Syria, but no actual flows took place, partly because the US renewed pressures on Iran and its regional allies after the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
However, the Iran war has prompted a regional push to develop transport links between the Gulf and Europe through Syria, which could benefit Lebanon if its ports also become part of the network.
After the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in early March, Mr Al Shara sent elite troops to parts of the border with Lebanon to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, which, together with Tehran, has had a strong influence on Lebanon’s foreign policy for decades. The intervention of Iran, Hezbollah and other Tehran proxies was crucial for former president Bashar Al Assad’s survival in the Syrian civil war from 2011 to 2024.
Although Syrian officials said the troop deployment was defensive, pro-Hezbollah politicians in Lebanon regard it as a possible preparation by Syria to enter areas controlled by the group. Hezbollah is the only militia to have kept its weapons after the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, despite a peace agreement based on the disbanding of all the country's militias.
In December 2024, forces led by Mr Al Shara ousted the Alawite-dominated regime of Mr Al Assad, ushering in the political ascendancy of Syria’s Sunni majority. Syria then left the orbit of Iran and Russia and quickly developed ties with the US.
However, many Lebanese Sunnis, especially in Tripoli and Sidon, see in Mr Al Shara an ally who could help redress the waning of Sunni political influence in the country since the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. Three years later, Hezbollah extended its dominance after a week of sectarian warfare that threatened to plunge Lebanon into a second civil war.
Lebanon was under Syrian control from the end of the civil war in 1990 until Mr Hariri's assassination in 2005. However, Lebanon acted as a business springboard for Syria, whose economy was relatively closed off, and Lebanese banks held billions of dollars of Syrian deposits. An undetermined part of these deposits evaporated after Lebanon’s 2019 financial meltdown.
