Mikati meets Sharaa in first visit by Lebanese PM to Damascus since 2010

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is visiting Damascus today, Saturday, the first visit by a Lebanese Prime Minister to Syria since 2010. A short while ago, he began a meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the new Syrian administration, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The meeting will be attended on the Lebanese side by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdullah Bou Habib, Acting Director General of General Security Major General Elias Al-Bissari, Director of Army Intelligence Brigadier General Tony Kahwaji, and Deputy Director General of State Security Brigadier General Hassan Shuqair. On the Syrian side, the meeting will be attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad Al-Shibani, Director of Intelligence Anas Khattab, and Director of Al-Sharaa’s Office Ali Kaddah.

Sharaa received Mikati at the entrance to the People's Palace. Mikati and his accompanying delegation arrived at Damascus airport on a Lebanese Airlines plane, according to what an airport official told Agence France-Presse, in the first visit by an official to Damascus since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8.

On January 3, Sharaa invited the Lebanese Prime Minister to visit Syria to discuss common issues between the two countries and strengthen bilateral relations. Mikati's media office said at the time that "a call took place between the Prime Minister and the leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmad Sharaa, during which relations between the two countries, especially urgent issues, were discussed."

This came after four members of the Lebanese army were injured during clashes in the Ma'arboun-Baalbek area on the Lebanese-Syrian border with Syrian militants, after they targeted a military unit with medium weapons, while an army unit was working to close an illegal crossing. Al-Sharaa confirmed in the call with Mikati that "the relevant Syrian agencies did everything necessary to restore calm on the border and prevent what happened from happening again."

On December 22, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, visited Syria at the head of a political and religious delegation of Druze sheikhs, where he met with Al-Sharaa and saluted him for the battle he fought “to get rid of oppression and tyranny,” hoping that Lebanese-Syrian relations would return to normal through diplomatic relations, that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese would be held accountable, and that fair trials would be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people.

The Syrian authorities had recently taken a decision to prevent Lebanese people from entering its territory through border crossings, with the exception of those who have official residency in Syria. Informed sources confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that this decision is due to purely security reasons, without any official political or diplomatic instructions being issued in this regard.

New Arab