The caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati (center), during the parliamentary session to elect Joseph Aoun as head of state, on Jan. 9, 2025. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
The caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, will travel to Syria on Saturday for his first official visit since a coalition led by Islamists took power, his press office told AFP on Friday.
"The government's head's visit comes in response to an invitation from Ahmad al-Sharaa," the new Syrian leader, said the source.
Clashes at the Lebanon-Syria Border
Mikati had a phone conversation with Sharaa on Jan. 3, shortly after the new Syrian authorities imposed restrictions on the entry of Lebanese people into the neighboring country. Syria had enforced these restrictions at the land border following what the Lebanese Army described as a border clash with armed Syrians. Lebanon's eastern border with Syria is porous and known to be a smuggling zone. Previously, Lebanese citizens were allowed to enter Syria without a visa, just with their passport or identity card.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who no longer holds an official position, and his son, Teymour, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, visited Damascus on Dec. 22, but Mikati’s visit will be the first by a serving Lebanese official since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on Dec. 8.
The new Syrian leader assured that his country would no longer exercise "negative interference" in Lebanon and would respect the neighboring country's sovereignty. Syria had been a dominant political and military force in Lebanon for three decades, intervening during the 1975-1990 civil war and being blamed for numerous assassinations of political figures. It withdrew its troops in 2005 under international pressure after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
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