Vendors and shops along one of Tripoli city's streets. (Credit: Sandrine Frem)
BEIRUT — Tripoli MP Ashraf Rifi on Saturday denied reports suggesting a purported agreement between Syria and Israel that would see Tripoli annexed to Syria as compensation for part of the occupied Golan Heights, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The reports originated from Israeli television channel I24NEWS, which, citing a source close to interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, claimed that one of the scenarios currently under consideration for a political settlement between Israel and Syria involves transferring the Lebanese city of Tripoli — along with possibly other northern Lebanese territories and parts of the Beqaa Valley — to Syria. In return, Israel would retain two-thirds of the occupied Golan Heights, with the remaining third returned to Syria, potentially under a lease agreement.
Rifi dismissed the claim as baseless and disconnected from reality: “We know who is behind this narrative and which channels are promoting it. Syria is not giving up the Golan, and it is not engaging in any barter. Al-Fayhaa is Lebanese, Lebanese, Lebanese — Tripoli is Lebanese and proud of its identity. The 10,452 square kilometers [of Lebanon] constitute a final homeland for us and all its people. Period.”
He further stated: “Those trying to justify holding onto their weapons by fabricating a new enemy and a new battlefield — after failing to defend our beloved South — will not convince the Lebanese.”
Although I24NEWS published the report, Rifi claimed that “the website that initially circulated the story is fake and doesn’t exist.” Without elaborating, he cryptically added: “To hint at the media outlets playing this role, I’ll just say: Qassem, Rafik and Fadi. That’s enough, and the Lebanese people understand.”
He was possibly alluding to journalists and analysts close to Hezbollah, Qassem Kassir, Rafik Nasrallah, and Fadi Boudaya, who have recently been very vocal against the new regime in Syria. Hezbollah was an ally of Bashar al-Assad and fought in 2017 against jihadist groups, notably al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, the al-Nusra front, in the Ersal mountains bordering Syria.
The Assad regime's collapse is unfavorable for Hezbollah and the country's new leader was once the leader of the now-defunct rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which originated from al-Nusra.
Pressure on Hezbollah to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state is reportedly mounting, as Beirut prepares to respond to a U.S. proposal for the group’s disarmament delivered by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack.
Meanwhile, recent reports warning of a possible resurgence of jihadist activity in Lebanon have raised concerns about renewed terrorist attacks. However, Hezbollah critics argue that these warnings are being used to justify the party’s continued possession of arms.
