Lebanon and Syria to form committees on prisoners, missing persons, and border issues

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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Syria will form two committees to decide the fate of the nearly 2,000 Syrian prisoners held in Lebanese jails, locate Lebanese nationals missing in Syria for years and settle the shared unmarked border, judicial and security officials said.

Monday’s announcement came as a Syrian delegation, which included two former Cabinet ministers and the head of Syria’s National Commission for Missing Persons, visited Beirut, a first since insurgent groups overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government in early December.

Syria’s new administration, under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, wants to “open a new page” with Lebanon and pave the way for a visit by the Syrian ministers of foreign affairs and justice, though a date is yet to be set, a Lebanese judicial and two security officials told The Associated Press.

The future visit could be a possible breakthrough between the two countries that have had tense relations for decades.

The current Syrian leadership resents Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group for taking part in the country’s conflict, fighting alongside Assad’s forces, while many Lebanese still grudge Syria’s 29-year domination of its smaller neighbor, where it had a military presence for three decades until 2005.

Talks on Monday with Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri included Syrians held in Lebanese jails, of which about 800 have been detained for security reasons, such as attacks and shootings, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Many Syrians held in Lebanon are in jail without trial.

They also said the two sides discussed Lebanese citizens missing in Syria and the two countries shared border, where smuggling is common, and the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon who escaped the uprising-turned-conflict in their home country over 14 years ago.

The Syrian side wanted to review bilateral agreements that were in place during the Assad family’s 54-year dynasty, but Lebanon suggested forming new agreements to deal with pending issues between the two nations, the Lebanese officials said.

Since the fall of Assad, two Lebanese prime ministers have visited Syria. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and al-Sharaa also held talks on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Egypt in March.

The two neighbors had only agreed to open embassies in 2008, marking Syria’s first official recognition of Lebanon as an autonomous state since it gained independence from France in 1943.