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Syria and Lebanon have long had a tense relationship, with forces from each country intervening over the years.
US President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants further intervention – making repeated comments in recent weeks calling on Syria to take the lead in disarming the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group.
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The Assyrians opposed the idea, and the decision of the Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to include the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, and the main ally of Hezbollah, Nabih Berri, among the officials he met during his trip to Beirut on Thursday, is another indication of the position of Damascus.
Although the Syrian government does not like Hezbollah because of its military support for the former Syrian army, it is clear that al-Shaibani’s boss, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has no interest in going to war across the border.
“The meeting with Berri marks a change from al-Shaibani’s visit last October, when he distanced himself from the Shia leadership,” Nawar Hawach, the International Crisis Group’s senior researcher on Syria, told Al Jazeera. “It shows that Damascus wants a way to work with every part of Lebanon, including the bloc that is closest to Hezbollah.”
History of problems
Had Trump had his way, Syria would have begun another chapter in its troubled relationship with its smaller neighbor, Lebanon. Over the years, the relationship has been one where Syria has dominated or played an active role in Lebanon, while Hezbollah has also played its part in Syria’s military operations in the past.
Lebanon’s troubled relationship with Syria dates back to their foundation as nations. Parts of present-day Lebanon were administered together with parts of Syria during the Ottoman Empire for centuries, until 1918. Both were controlled by France, before gaining independence in 1946 – although people inside Lebanon disagreed whether the country should be its own country or part of “Greater Syria”.
Syria – under first President Hafez al-Assad and then his son President Bashar al-Assad – occupied Lebanon from 1976 to 2005, when the Syrian army withdrew from the country after anti-Syrian protests. But al-Assad continued to exert influence in Beirut through his political associates.
That all changed in December 2024, when – after 13 years of war – Syrian opposition forces launched an operation to wrest government-controlled areas, including Damascus, from the hands of al-Assad’s government. With the latter out of power after many years, and Hezbollah’s ally no longer welcome in Syria, it was an opportunity to re-establish relations between Damascus and Beirut.
“Lebanon-Syria relations at the moment can be interpreted as being at risk of change, not returning to the old type of professionalism or a complete break as it was after 2011,” Souhayb Jawhar, an expert on Lebanon and Badil, told Al Jazeera. “The new Damascus is trying to restore its relations with Lebanon with the help of cooperation, not interference or coercion.”
The story of Hezbollah
One of the concerns between the Syrian government and Beirut is the role of Hezbollah. The group has long been allied with al-Assad’s regime, both being part of the “pro-Iran axis of resistance”. When the time came to protect al-Assad in the early years of the war in Syria, Hezbollah answered the call, and has been accused of attacking Syrian civilians.
Therefore, the Syrian authorities have a history of fighting Hezbollah during the war, and many Syrians hate the group.
Last year, the Syrian government criticized Struggle with Lebanon beyond borders on Hezbollah, although the group refused to participate.
“Lebanon-Syria relations seem to be resuming caution in dealing with the government, but not a permanent partnership,” Hawach said. “Real cooperation is moving forward, while mistrust and internal divisions in Lebanon over Hezbollah continue to strain the relationship.”
Hezbollah was weakened in 2024, when Israel assassinated its military leadership, including its longtime Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, as it escalated its offensive in Lebanon. But the group has shown that in the last few months that it is fighting Israel that it has not been completely overthrown as an army.
However, the future of Hezbollah remains a big question in Lebanon and in the region. Although the Lebanese government announced that it would disarm Hezbollah, analysts do not know how this will be used as long as Israel takes large parts of Lebanon, and as long as Iran continues to push for integration Lebanese arena to any agreement with the US and Israel.
Al-Shaibani met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam during his visit, but it was the meeting with Berri that was perhaps the most revealing. It represents a necessary reform, analysts said, to accept the role of the Shia in Lebanon in order to provide Syrian support for internal negotiations and stability.
“The importance of the meeting between Asaad al-Shibani and Nabih Berri lies in the fact that it opens a direct path to Syria for the Shia movement, not for the Lebanese government,” Jawhar said. “Damascus believes that engaging Berri can provide a way to reassure the Shia, start negotiations for internal stability, and ensure that weapons are in the hands of the government, without forcing conflict.”
Attempts to reassure Lebanese Shia are also important because the Syrian leadership is made up of former fighters, many of whom fought for Sunni Islamist groups, and some – including al-Sharaa – who were formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda.
“In addition, Berri has the ability to deal with disagreements,” said Jawhar, “and he understands that any negotiations on Hezbollah’s weapons can be done gradually, internally, starting with the cessation of attacks on Israel and withdrawal, followed by discussions on the national security strategy.”
Trump’s words
After al-Shaibani’s meeting at Prime Minister Salam’s office, he made a statement against Israel’s attack on Lebanon and said that soon. Israel-Lebanon framework agreement it was an internal matter. Both Syria and Lebanon, like Gaza, have experienced Israeli aggression and territorial expansion.
The comments and emphasis on Lebanon’s sovereignty come on the back of Trump’s suggestion that Syria can be trusted to destroy Hezbollah, instead of Israel.
“Trump’s talk about Syria ‘capturing Hezbollah’ seems more like political pressure than actual policy,” Hawach said. “Damascus has reasons to not enter Lebanon, and this visit will be encouraging.”
Trump’s words were unpopular in Syria. Al-Sharaa also rejected the suggestion that the Syrian army would enter Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. Despite the group’s unpopularity in Syria, there is widespread acceptance that Israel is the biggest problem in the region.
“It seems that Damascus does not want to do this,” Jawhar said. “It is true that the new Syria does not want Hezbollah’s weapons to remain a threat to its security or a tool to support Syria; however, it refuses to be a tool in the American or Israeli project to start internal conflicts in Lebanon.”
Analysts warned that such a move could lead to a major regional conflict, which could become highly sectarian.
“Damascus wants to prevent the expansion of countries or regions of the Lebanese and Syrian arenas and wants to solve the problems in the Arab Frame and direct dialogue between the two countries,” said Jawhar.
He said that the visit also affected the security of Lebanon and Syria, as well as Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and southern Syria.
“In this sense, the visit represents an attempt by Syria to redefine its relationship with Lebanon: no education, no disintegration, no intervention, but political and security cooperation that prevents Israel from using internal divisions.”
