Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited Damascus on May 9 for a second official trip since the fall of the al-Assad regime in 2024. The visit occurs amid ongoing Israeli attacks and occupation affecting both countries. A new framework for relations is replacing years of Syrian political and security influence over Lebanon, including Hezbollah’s military support for al-Assad during Syria’s civil war. Damascus is presenting the relationship as between two sovereign and equal states. Institutional steps include suspending the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council, which symbolized Syrian tutelage, and operating embassies on both sides. The fall of al-Assad ended five decades of dynastic rule after a 2011 uprising and subsequent war, along with international isolation and sanctions.
"Damascus is framing the relationship as one between two sovereign and equal states, and it has matched the rhetoric with institutional moves like suspending [in October] the [Lebanese-Syrian] Higher Council that symbolised Syrian tutelage [and] operating embassies on both sides, Nanar Hawach, International Crisis Group's Senior Analyst for Syria, told Al Jazeera."
"The trip came as both Lebanon and Syria suffer ongoing Israeli attacks and occupation of their territories. It also marks the continuation of a new framework' for relations between the two countries, analysts told Al Jazeera. That followed years of Syria exerting its political and security influence over Lebanon, and the Lebanese group Hezbollah's military support for President Bashar al-Assad during Syria's civil war."
"In December 2024, Syrian opposition groups launched an operation to take government-controlled areas, including Damascus, from the grip of the al-Assad regime. In the early hours of December 8, Bashar al-Assad fled the country, bringing an end to five decades of dynastic family rule in Syria. Al-Assad left the country in tatters."
"Syria under al-Assad was isolated from the international community and suffered from repeated and compounding international sanctions. The fall of al-Assad changed the dynamic with Lebanon, Mounir Rabih, a Lebanese political analyst, told Al Jazeera. No one in Lebanon thought al-Assad would fall and no one expected [Ahmed] al-Sharaa to come to power, he said, referring to the current Syrian president, who led the military offens"
#lebanon-syria-relations #sovereignty-and-diplomacy #syrian-political-transition #israeli-attacks-and-occupation #hezbollah-and-regional-security
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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