Syria Today | Syria-Lebanon rapprochement continues with third Damascus meeting

Syria-Lebanon rapprochement continues with third Damascus meeting

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visited Damascus on July 18 for the third time since taking office in November 2009.

Hariri met with Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Otri to discuss implementing several agreements between the two countries, including a treaty on economic, political and development ties and one on joint foreign policy initiatives. The leaders also signed 17 new bilateral agreements, including one on the transfer of prisoners, as well as accords on consumer and investment protection, pharmaceutical products, shipping, tourism and preventing double taxation.

Both Otri and Hariri were later received by President Bashar al-Assad, who stressed the need to implement the agreements, the Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star reported. A key issue discussed during the meetings was the need to demarcate disputed border areas, particularly a small region in southern Lebanon that is currently occupied by Israel. The parties also agreed to jointly work to combat trafficking at the border.

In a joint statement after the meetings, Assad and Hariri stressed the "importance of coordination of stances between both countries when it comes to key political issues, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict".

Hariri's visit is part of an overall rapprochement between Syria and Lebanon. Relations between the countries deteriorated in 2005 after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former premier and father of the current prime minister. Syria was widely blamed for the killing, an allegation it has always denied.

The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon is currently investigating Hariri's murder and is expected to issue indictments in September. Before the Lebanese delegation visited last month, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mu'allem pledged Syria's cooperation with the proceedings, telling reporters: "If irrefutable evidence demonstrates that a Syrian citizen was implicated, that person will then be judged in Syria for high treason."

Hariri's initial visit to Damascus last December was the first diplomatic meeting between the countries since the 2005 assassination. At that time he met with Assad and stated a desire to turn a "new page" in Syria-Lebanon relations.

"Lebanon is strategic to Syria, to hold it away from the Israeli line of fire and to get its support for the resistance," Khalid Aboud, a Syrian MP and secretary of the Syrian parliament, told Syria Today in May. "It is natural for us to have a good relationship. But the murder of Hariri was used by the US to tear apart relations between Beirut and Damascus."