President Joseph Aoun (center) during a meeting at Baabda Palace with Deputy Parliament Speaker Tarek Mitri and several judges on 19 December 2025. (Credit: @LBpresidency/ X)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun held a meeting on Friday to discuss the ongoing discussion aiming at reaching an agreement with Syria on prisoners and detainees currently held in Lebanese prisons, the Lebanese Presidency said on X reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri, Minister of Justice Adel Nassar and several judges all attended the meeting, which focused on exploring legal frameworks for the agreement, the Presidency said.
It added that Lebanese authorities want "to establish the best possible relations with Syria and to strengthen joint cooperation in various fields."
Following the meeting, Mitri explained that Aoun had given "clear directives to study the best possible legal solutions for reaching an agreement with the Syrian side," the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Syria wants to accelerate the release of thousands of Syrians from Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, as some have never even been tried. But Lebanon insists on respecting the legal framework set by Justice Minister Adel Nassar: all those accused of terrorism, rape or attacks against the army will not be transferred to Syria. A stance that raises fears of a diplomatic rift between Lebanon and the new Syria, a year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Mitri (who is steering the bilateral relations file) is working to prevent such a scenario, as tensions had been reported after the latest visit of a judicial delegation to Damascus.
Two judges and Mitri's advisor had proposed a draft agreement to the Syrians so that people still detained in Lebanon but already tried could be transferred to Syria, but a government source revealed to L'Orient Today that the document the Lebanese delegation was to present to their Syrian counterparts had been altered, undermining the discussions.
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