Beirut, Lebanon – On May 9, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam made his second official visit to the Syrian capital Damascus since the fall of the al-Assad regime in 2024. The trip came as both Lebanon and Syria suffer ongoing Israeli attacks and occupation of their territories.It also marks the continuation of a ‘new framework’ for relations between the two countries, analysts told Al Jazeera. That followed years of Syria exerting its political and security influence over Lebanon, and the Lebanese group Hezbollah’s military support for President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s civil war.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“Damascus is framing the relationship as one between two sovereign and equal states, and it has matched the rhetoric with institutional moves like suspending [in October] the [Lebanese-Syrian] Higher Council that symbolised Syrian tutelage [and] operating embassies on both sides,” Nanar Hawach, International Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Syria, told Al Jazeera.New prioritiesIn December 2024, Syrian opposition groups launched an operation to take government-controlled areas, including Damascus, from the grip of the al-Assad regime. In the early hours of December 8, Bashar al-Assad fled the country, bringing an end to five decades of dynastic family rule in Syria.Al-Assad left the country in tatters. A 2011 uprising against him was violently suppressed by the regime and the war that followed destroyed vast areas of the country. Syria under al-Assad was isolated from the international community and suffered from repeated and compounding international sanctions. Advertis …
