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Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon

Syria 'will stay at equal distance from all' in Lebanon, Sharaa added, acknowledging that Syria has been a "source of fear and anxiety" for the country

Published: Sun 22 Dec 2024, 6:57 PM

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  • AFP

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Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group. Photo: AFP

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group. Photo: AFP

Two weeks after seizing power in a sweeping offensive, Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has stepped up regional contacts, vowing in a meeting Sunday not to "negatively" interfere in neighbouring Lebanon.

Sharaa also met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, video released by the Anadolu state news agency showed. Turkey's foreign ministry released no details of where the meeting took place in the Syrian capital.

During his meeting with visiting Lebanese Druze chiefs Walid and Taymur Jumblatt, Sharaa said Syria will no longer exert "negative interference in Lebanon at all".

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He added that Damascus "respects Lebanon's sovereignty, the unity of its territories, the independence of its decisions and its security stability".

Syria "will stay at equal distance from all" in Lebanon, Sharaa added, acknowledging that Syria has been a "source of fear and anxiety" for the country.

Walid Jumblatt, long a fierce critic of Assad and his father Hafez who ruled Syria before him, arrived in Damascus Sunday at the head of a delegation of lawmakers from his parliamentary bloc and Druze religious figures.

The Druze religious minority is spread across Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

He met with Sharaa -- also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani -- at the presidential palace, where the new Syrian leader wore a suit and tie instead of the olive-green military shirt he sported just days ago.

Walid Jumblatt accuses the former Syrian authorities of having assassinated his father in 1977 during Lebanon's civil war.

The Syrian army entered Lebanon in 1976, only leaving in 2005 after enormous pressure following the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri, a killing attributed to Damascus and its ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

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