Lebanese PM visits Syria seeking course correction on ties

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Monday travelled to Syria on his first official visit to meet interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, seeking to readjust bilateral ties, a Lebanese official said.

It is the first trip to Damascus by a senior Lebanese official since a new government was formed in Beirut in February, two months after an Islamist-led alliance ousted longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.

This visit is "key to correcting the course of ties between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect", the Lebanese official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media.

Beirut and Damascus have been seeking to improve ties since the overthrow of Assad, whose family dynasty commanded a decades-long tutelage over Lebanon and is accused of assassinating numerous Lebanese officials who expressed opposition to its rule.

The official said Monday's discussions were expected to include controlling and demarcating the porous, 330-kilometre (205-mile) shared border, as well as combatting smuggling.

Last month during a visit to Saudi Arabia, the Lebanese and Syrian defence ministers signed an agreement to address security and military threats along the border, after clashes left 10 dead.

Beirut is expected to seek the new authorities' assistance on "the formation of a commission of inquiry into a large number of assassinations in Lebanon over which the former regime is accused", the official said.

Salam, who is accompanied by several senior ministers, is also expected to raise "the return of Syrian refugees", the official added.

Lebanese authorities say the small, crisis-hit country hosts some 1.5 million Syrians who fled war in their country since 2011, while the UN refugee agency says it has registered some 750,000 of them.

Salam said Sunday he would also raise the issue of Lebanese nationals who were detained and disappeared in Syria's notorious prisons under the Assad dynasty's iron-fisted rule.

In January, former Lebanese premier Najib Mikati met with Sharaa, in the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since Syria's civil war erupted.

In December, Sharaa said his country would not negatively interfere in Lebanon and would respect its neighbour's sovereignty.