Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani visited Lebanon on Thursday for meetings with its president and highest-ranking leadership in which he affirmed that his government is not interested in a military role in Syria, but would consider participating in talks with the Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah.
Shaibani is visiting Lebanon amid an ongoing military invasion of the country by neighboring Israel, whose government insists it will remain in the country until Hezbollah ceases to be a threat. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon began in February as the United States launched its own military campaign in Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.” Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June to end active hostilities, which included a provision calling for an end to war in Lebanon, but the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not withdrawn from the country. Netanyahu personally visited Lebanon this week, declaring, “We will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat has been eliminated.”
Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement towards peace in late June with the mediating aid of the United States. The deal allows for Israel to remain in two “pilot zones” where Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops are to be gradually replaced by the Lebanese military, intended to ensure that no gaps form where Hezbollah can begin rebuilding the terrorist infrastructure Israel has destroyed. Those involved in the agreement described it as a “first step” to slow the momentum of the violence in Lebanon.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with the Israeli operation in Lebanon and suggested that the government of Syria could instead engage in military attacks against Hezbollah. The current Syrian government, led by former al-Qaeda terrorist President Ahmed al-Sharaa, seized power from former dictator Bashar Assad in late 2024 after over a decade of civil war, much of it involving Sharaa’s jihadist forces fighting Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies. Sharaa has repeatedly denied any interest in returning to war, however, instead emphasizing Syria’s need for foreign investment to rebuild what the civil war destroyed.
Shaibani, the foreign minister, used his visit to Lebanon on Thursday to again assure that his government does not have any interest in invading Lebanon or replacing the Israeli military operation.
In conversation with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Shaibani declared that Syria’s priority with Lebanon is the expansion of “economic cooperation” and that Syria would support stability in Lebanon, but not by sending its military into the country.
“The message entrusted to us by President Ahmad al-Sharaa is that we believe in Lebanon in all its diversity and seek to build a direct relationship with the official Lebanese state,” Shaibani said, formally condemning the Israeli invasion and asserting, “Our partnership with Lebanon will provide a platform for expanding economic cooperation and strengthening security coordination between our two countries.”
Salam and Shaibani announced the creation of a “joint commission” to expand cooperation in various fields. According to Salam, “The purpose of the meeting is to cooperate in several areas, first and foremost electricity interconnection between Lebanon and Syria, as well as transport, trade exchanges, facilitation of movement at the borders, and the development of relations.”
The foreign minister discussed Hezbollah in conversation with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, widely described as an ally of the jihadist terror organization. Following that meeting, according to the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Today, Shaibani affirmed that he had no plans to meet with actual Hezbollah terrorists, “but if the interests of both countries require it in the future, we are open to it.”
“The question of the framework agreement [between Lebanon and Israel] is an internal Lebanese matter. We hope a calm dialogue will take place on it and we support any political effort that serves Lebanon’s interest and stability,” Shaibani was quoted as saying during his various meetings in the country.
Shaibani also met with President Aoun, who expressed relief that the Syrian government did not appear interested in invading his country, despite what many view as an open invitation from the White House to do so.
“The president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has repeatedly assured me during our meetings and conversations that Syria’s role will no longer be what it was in the past,” Aoun said on Thursday, “that a new chapter has opened between our two countries, and that Syria will no longer stand with one Lebanese faction against another, but with all the Lebanese.”
Past Syrian governments have invaded Lebanon repeatedly, first in 1976, and maintained a consistent menacing presence in the country for years. The Lebanese government has not expressed a willingness to repeat the existence of a Syrian military presence on its soil.
“His visit had many urgent purposes, but one of the priorities was to discuss what President Trump had suggested about Syrian forces entering Lebanon to confront Hezbollah, and how Al Shara is not taking that path,” a Lebanese official told the Emirati newspaper The National.
President Trump has suggested Syria as an alternative to Israel publicly, however, in expressing frustration with Netanyahu. Speaking at the G7 summit in June, Trump complained that Israel was taking “too long” to destroy Hezbollah and “too many people are being killed.”
“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody. Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses. And they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you,” Trump lamented. “I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”
“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it,” Trump continued. “He’s [Sharaa] very capable. And he’s been very good for me. He’s protected everything that I’ve asked for … And if Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job. Syria will do the job.”
The Syrian government has not publicly expressed any willingness to respond to the call at press time.