Lebanon and Syria said today Friday that they are opening a new page in their relations during the visit of the head of Syrian diplomacy, from which Beirut seeks to shed light on political murders in the country attributed to the Assad faction.

Foreign Minister Assad al -Sibani is the first Syrian senior official to go to Lebanon after taking power in Damascus by a coalition of Islamists who overthrew Bashar al -Assad in December 2024.

Under the rule of the Assad family, Syria has had a great influence on Lebanon for decades and has been accused of killing many Lebanese officials.

“We have opened today a new page in relations between Syria and Lebanese,” the Syrian minister said after a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

He described his visit as “historical”, adding that Damascus is committed to “respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty” and the principle of “non -involvement” in the country’s neighboring affairs.

Lebanese President Joseph Aun, who also accepted the Syrian minister, said that the visit was aimed at “strengthening relations between the two brothers on the basis of mutual respect and non -involvement”.

The contacts focused on settlement of the issue of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon, on ways to encourage refugees and control of their common borders in order to prevent smuggling.

Progress on the issue of prisoners

The Syrian minister said that “discussions on the issue of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon, whose liberation demands that Damascus were” made of great progress “.

A Lebanese judicial official who asked not to be named, told the French Agency that about 2,250 Syrians were being held in the suffocating full of Lebanese prisons.

Lebanon states that he is ready to hand over 700 to Syria, but that it is previously necessary to conclude a new judicial agreement between the two countries.

For his part, Lebanon is calling on the new Syrian authorities information on the many political murders attributed to Damascus, from the time of the great influence he exerted on Lebanon and after leaving her troops in 2025, Lebanese Justice Minister Antol said.

“We asked for all the information available to the Syrian side for the murders that took place in Lebanon,” he said, listing the list of the names of many figures murdered, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He said the Syrian side “showed cooperation” on this issue.

The talks also examined the issue of the return of Syrian refugees, of which Lebanon hosts 1.3 million, who left Syria after the civil war that broke out after the suppression of a popular uprising against the Assad regime in 2011.

According to the UN, about 294,000 of these refugees in Lebanon returned to their country after the fall of Assad.

Siebani said his country is currently considering “plans with international support for the decent” return of refugees.

He also emphasized “the need for border control” which is permeable between the two countries.

Following the fall of Bashar al -Assad, the supply roads of the pro -Hezbollah, an ally of the fallen Syrian regime, have cut several attempts to smuggle weapons to Lebanon, according to Syrian authorities.