BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s relationship with Syria is “fundamentally different” since the fall of former President Bashar Assad, with a senior Lebanese minister tasked with managing the country’s relationship with its neighbor.
“During the Assad regime, Lebanon was de facto subordinate to Syria. The Syrian regime interfered in domestic affairs in many ways,” Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told The Associated Press. “The current Syrian government is not interested in dominating Lebanon, nor is it interfering in our internal affairs.”
Mitri was speaking days after Lebanon’s cabinet approved a deal with Syria, under which Lebanon will transfer more than 300 convicted prisoners to serve their prison terms in Syria.
Mitri said that the transfer is expected to start within the week.
Syrian prisoners
Lebanon and Syria have a complicated history, with grievances on both sides. Many Lebanese resent the decades-long occupation of their country by Syrian forces that ended in 2005. Many Syrians resent the role played by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in entering Syria’s civil war in defense of Assad’s government.
Although relations have improved, the two countries have wrestled with several thorny issues since Assad’s fall, particularly the issue of Syrian prisoners held in Lebanese prisons.
There are about 2,500 Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons, some of whom are accused of their involvement with armed opposition groups seeking to oust Assad — in some cases, the same groups that now rule Syria.
Mitri said most of the prisoners who will be transferred under the agreement approved last Friday are not guilty of violent crimes. Those convicted of “major crimes” including “murder, fighting the Lebanese army and rape” are only eligible for transfer if they have served 7.5 years in Lebanon.
Another treaty is in the works under which Syrian detainees awaiting trial could be transferred to their country, Mitri said, but it would have to be approved by the Lebanese parliament and would likely take more time.
He said that the two countries have also formed a working group to investigate the situation of Lebanese citizens who have disappeared in Syria and the situation of Syrian citizens who have disappeared in Lebanon. Many missing Lebanese were imprisoned – and potentially died in custody – during Assad’s iron rule.
Since Assad’s fall in December 2024 in a lightning attack led by Islamist rebel groups, reports have circulated that Assad-era officials who have taken refuge in Lebanon are plotting attacks against the new government.
Mitri said Lebanon had not received a list of names of people it wanted extradited from Syria and found no evidence of an armed conspiracy.
While “moderate leaders” of the former Syrian army and the Assad-era ruling Baath Party now live in Lebanon, Mitri said, “they are not militarily organized or militarily active.”
Lebanese security agencies have “investigated areas where there were suspicions that Syrian ex-military (officials) may have organized themselves to prepare subversive operations in Syria” and “found no evidence of that,” he said.
Weapons of Hezbollah
A more difficult relationship that Lebanon faces is with its southern neighbor.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire that nominally ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November 2024, Israel continues to launch daily attacks near Lebanon and occupies five strategic mountain points along the border. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild.
Lebanon’s army announced last month that it had completed the first phase of a plan to disarm non-state groups, including Hezbollah, in the border region south of the Litani River. Future phases will gradually cover the northern areas of the river. The army is expected to present the second phase of the plan later this week after its commander, General Rodolphe Haikel, returns from a visit to the US.
Hezbollah has said the ceasefire only requires ending its military presence south of Litani and will not discuss disarmament in the rest of the country until Israel ends its offensive.
Mitry said moving forward with the disarmament plan “is not conditional on steps from Israel.”
“But of course, unless Israel respects the cessation of hostilities agreement – and they haven’t done it in the last year and three months – it makes the army’s job more complicated,” he said.
‘Neutral, Internationally Mandatory Force’
Lebanon and Israel are expected to move to political talks and eventually the normalization of diplomatic ties, but Mitri said their discussions are now limited to the ceasefire monitoring committee, which also includes representatives from the US, France and the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.
It there is “full compliance with the agreement – which is to return the Israelis from the Lebanese checkpoints they occupied, stop their strike, free or hand over the Lebanese prisoners (held in Israel), then there can be other issues to negotiate,” such as the demarcation of the land border between the two countries, he said. “But short of executing the deal, I can’t see what we’re going to negotiate about in the near future.”
Another burning question is the future of the border region after UNIFIL’s mandate expires at the end of the year.
Mitri said that many proposals for the successor are being discussed.
From Lebanon’s perspective, he said: “We need a neutral, internationally binding force to observe and ensure that whatever has been agreed upon in the talks is fully respected by the parties and document violations.”
