Lebanon hopes for good neighborly relations in first message to new Syrian government Reuters
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to good neighborly relations with Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad ushered in a new era in the often turbulent relationship between the two neighbors.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib conveyed the message – the first in Beirut to the new administration in Damascus – to his Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shibani in a telephone conversation, Lebanon’s foreign ministry said.
Relations between Damascus and Beirut have often been strained since they became independent states in the 1940s.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah played a major role in supporting Assad during Syria’s civil war, fighting Sunni Islamist rebels who finally ousted him on December 8 and installed a new administration in Damascus.
Before that, the Syrian state led by the Assad dynasty dominated Lebanon for 15 years after the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war, effectively controlling Lebanese politics until 2005 – an influence many Lebanese opposed, although others supported Syria’s role.
The assassination of Lebanese Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut in 2005 sparked mass protests in Lebanon and Western pressure that forced Syria to withdraw from its neighbor.
An initial international investigation found that high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese figures were involved in the murder.
While Syria denied involvement, former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam said Assad had threatened Hariri months earlier – a charge Assad denied.
Fifteen years later, a UN-backed court convicted three Hezbollah members in absentia of the assassination. Hezbollah denies any role.
