Syria’s foreign minister meets Hezbollah ally in Beirut

BEIRUT: Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, for the first time on Thursday, in a visit to Beirut.

Shaibani’s visit comes as Damascus has insisted it does not want to intervene militarily in Lebanon, despite pressure from the US to do so.

US president Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Syria could “take care of Hezbollah”, criticising Israel’s strategy in its war with the Iran-backed militant group.

However, Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power in December 2024 after leading a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, has stated that he has no intention of intervening or reopening old wounds.

The Syrian minister, on his second visit to Lebanon, was received on arrival by Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, before going on to meet Berri, according to local media.

Shaibani’s October 2025 visit was the first by a senior Syrian official since the Islamist coalition took power in Damascus, opening a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam, for his part, travelled to Syria in May.

The new Syrian authorities are hostile to Hezbollah, which was allied with Assad, and have announced arrests of alleged cells affiliated with the group.

Hezbollah denies having any presence in Syria.

Since late 2024, Hezbollah’s former Syrian supply routes have been cut and Damascus authorities say several attempts to smuggle weapons to Lebanon have been foiled.

The Syrian army intervened in Lebanon during its civil war in 1976 and exercised tutelage over its neighbour for decades, where it was accused of numerous assassinations.

Shaibani’s visit last year broke the deadlock over the issue of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon, a Damascus priority.

Around 2,000 Syrians, nearly a third of Lebanon’s prison population, are held in the country’s overcrowded jails.

More than 250 prisoners were transferred to Syria following Shaibani’s first visit.