Relations between Lebanon and Syria remain tense 14 months after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with disputes over prisoners, security concerns and trade continuing to block progress.
Many in Lebanon believed Assad wanted to dominate their country or even annex parts of it, but his fall in December 2024 has not improved relations between the two neighbours.
Lebanese officials say relations will take time to improve after decades of mistrust. They accuse Syria’s new authorities of maintaining the same approach as under Assad – putting what they describe as “security considerations” ahead of economic cooperation.
For Lebanon, resolving long-standing disputes such as the demarcation of the Lebanon-Syria border should come first.
Trade routes under pressure
Syria remains a crucial trade corridor, serving as Lebanon’s land gateway to Iraq, Jordan, Gulf countries and Iran. Lebanese agricultural exports rely heavily on transit through Syrian territory, as do goods arriving via the ports of Beirut and Tripoli.
Lebanese businesses have also expressed interest in participating in Syria’s post-war reconstruction, either through direct investment or by sharing expertise.
Instead of easing trade, Syria’s new authorities introduced measures that Lebanese officials say have harmed Lebanon’s interests.
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Syrian authorities imposed a flat $1,500 fee on every container transiting Syria to Arab countries, introduced tariffs on certain agricultural products – including a $55-per-tonne tax on bananas – and tightened procedures for trucks crossing the border.
Lebanon has meanwhile sought to show goodwill. President Joseph Aoun met Syria’s transitional president Ahmed al-Charaa twice, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam travelled to Damascus in April 2025 with a ministerial delegation.
Lebanon also appointed a new ambassador to Syria, Henri Qastoun, who waited three months before he was allowed to present his credentials to Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
Syria limited its representation in Beirut to Iyad el-Hazaa, its top diplomat in Lebanon, who previously oversaw political relations in the coastal province of Latakia.
Prisoner dispute
During meetings with Lebanese officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri, Syrian leaders repeated the same message: improving relations depends on two issues – Syrian prisoners in Lebanese jails and supporters of the former Assad regime allegedly present in Lebanon.
Damascus is demanding the release of nearly 2,500 Syrian detainees, including hundreds of Islamists accused of terrorism or crimes against state security. Many have been held for years without trial, alongside others accused of rape or murder.
Lebanese leaders consider the demands unacceptable. They say transferring detainees awaiting trial would require a law passed by parliament, which they believe has no chance of being adopted.
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On 30 January, the Lebanese government approved an 18-point judicial agreement between Lebanon and Syria allowing the transfer of convicted prisoners to their country of nationality.
The agreement excludes detainees awaiting trial and limits transfers to prisoners already sentenced. Those convicted of rape or murder would be eligible only after serving 10 years of their sentence.
Some 300 Syrian detainees could be affected. The agreement also provides for reciprocity, allowing Lebanese nationals convicted in Syria to be transferred to Lebanon.
The deal represents a compromise between Syrian demands and Lebanese concerns. It does not meet Damascus’s initial request to transfer all detainees, but it goes further than Lebanon’s earlier refusal to allow prisoner transfers.
Standoff deepens
During visits to Beirut, Syrian delegations included justice and interior ministers as well as security officials, reflecting Damascus’s focus on security issues.
In mid-December, a Syrian intelligence delegation visiting Beirut went to two seaside restaurants in the capital frequented by businessmen once close to the former Syrian regime. The delegation also handed Lebanese officials a list of 200 Syrian officers, politicians and business figures close to Assad believed to have taken refuge in Lebanon.
Days later, Lebanese and Arab media outlets, including Al Jazeera, reported alleged plots by Assad supporters operating from Lebanon to destabilise Syria’s new leadership.
Lebanese leaders sought US mediation to try to ease tensions with Damascus. “We have been surprised that the Americans showed understanding toward Damascus’s demands,” said a source close to President Aoun, speaking anonymously.
Facing pressure from Syria and limited support from Washington, Lebanese leaders began looking for compromises.
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Security operations
At the start of January, the Lebanese army carried out large-scale searches in Jabal Mohsen, an Alawite neighbourhood in the northern city of Tripoli, and in five other localities near the Syrian border inhabited by members of the same religious community.
After the March 2025 massacres in Syria’s coastal provinces, at least 60,000 Syrian Alawites fled to Lebanon. Many settled in areas where Lebanese Alawites live, in Christian villages in Mount Lebanon and in predominantly Shia regions.
Municipal councils in the five localities later said in a joint statement that “the Lebanese army carried out search and inspection campaigns in all camps housing displaced Syrians”.
“No person belonging to a military organisation or preparing armed operations was apprehended during these searches, which formally contradicts the report broadcast on the subject by Al-Jazeera,” the statement said.
It remains unclear whether Damascus will consider these steps sufficient to open talks on economic and trade relations between the two countries.
This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI correspondant Paul Khalifeh.
