Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a telephone conversation with the head of the new administration in Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and discussed with him the situation on the Syrian-Lebanese border, where there were clashes on Friday.
This was stated in a statement by the government office published in X.
„During the conversation, al-Sharaa confirmed that the relevant Syrian agencies had done everything necessary to restore calm on the common border and promised not to allow a repetition of what happened“, the text states.
On January 3, four Lebanese soldiers were injured in clashes with a group of armed Syrians who were trying to enter Lebanon through a closed illegal border crossing in the area on Maaraboun, east of Baalbek. In response to warning shots, the Syrians attacked the army patrol with grenade launchers.
It was established that they were connected to smugglers from the Syrian border town of Sergaia. After the shootout, army units stationed in this border sector took additional security measures. In turn, a mechanized column was sent from Damascus to the border, after the arrival of which the fire on Lebanese territory ceased.
The border authorities closed the passage to Syria for Lebanese citizens on Friday through the main checkpoint “El-Masna“, located on the Beirut-Damascus highway, Al-Markaziya news agency reported. The El-Abboudiya, El-Arida and Jisr-Qamar checkpoints in northern Lebanon have also been closed.
According to the agency, following the shooting incident on the border, Syrian authorities have only allowed entry to those Lebanese who have a residence permit in Syria. This creates a problem for the transit of Lebanese products through Syria to the Persian Gulf countries.
The new Syrian Foreign Minister, Assad Hassan al-Shibani, announced last night that after his first official trip to Saudi Arabia, he will also make official visits to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan this week, Agence France-Presse and BTA reported.
After the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for over twenty years, on December 8, an armed coalition dominated by Islamists took power in Syria, and is now seeking help from the Persian Gulf countries to rebuild the country devastated by a thirteen-year civil war, AFP notes.
„This week I will represent my country – Syria - on an official visit to our brotherly (countries) Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan“, wrote in a post on the social network “Ex“ Ash Shibani. “We look forward to these visits helping to promote stability, security, economic recovery and good partnership“, he added.
Ash Shibani and Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Kasra, accompanied by the head of intelligence Anas Khattab, visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Thursday. There they discussed ways to support the transition in Syria, the first official visit abroad by representatives of the new government since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
In December, government officials told AFP that a Saudi delegation had met in Damascus with the new Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.
In an interview with Saudi television station Al-Arabiya last week, al-Sharaa said Saudi Arabia "will certainly play a very important role" in Syria, where it could benefit from "big investment opportunities."