The border between Lebanon and Syria is porous and largely uncontrolled [Nidal Solh/AFP via Getty]
Syrian and Lebanese military officials held a meeting to discuss ways of controlling the countries’s porous border after a recent spike in trafficking involving some armed clashes.
Syria’s new army chief of staff Ali Noureddine al-Naasan met with the head of the Lebanese army’s coordination office Michel Boutros in Damascus to discuss a mechanism to control the border, said Syria’s state-run SANA news agency on Thursday.
It was not clear if the meeting happened on Thursday or an earlier date. The Syrian Ministry of Defence shared photos online of the meeting.
Since ousting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime last month, rebel-turned-interim authorities in Damascus have met once with a Lebanese General Security delegation to discuss ways of controlling the Masnaa-Jdaidet Yabous post, the main crossing between the two countries.
The meeting between Naasan and Boutros was the first between military officials on both sides and comes after smuggling operations have reportedly spiked, with the Lebanese army finding weapons and smuggled goods.
Some towns on the Syrian side of the border have seen clashes between authorities and smugglers which have consequently spilled over into Lebanese territory, prompting the Lebanese army to send reinforcements.
Lebanese border villages like Maaraboun and Qasr in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel districts which share a longer border with Syria have witnessed infiltrations and clashes.
The border between Lebanon and Syria – whose ties under the Assad regime had long been strained – is not fully demarcated and is largely uncontrolled, with illegal routes used to traffic humans, drugs, weapons and goods.
Beirut had long called on Damascus under the Assad rule to resolve the issue and fully delineate the frontier.
The 375 km border which runs from the Mediterranean Sea down to the shared border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights includes mountainous, rugged terrains, as well as plains and valleys, and several villages are interconnected.
Hundreds of Syrians allegedly cross into Lebanon daily via the country’s northeast adjacent to the Syrian Homs region, where smuggling operations take place openly and in broad daylight, reports say.
Syria’s interim authorities earlier this month imposed new entry restrictions on Lebanese nationals.
Previously, Lebanese had been allowed into Syria with just their passport or ID card, but tighter border rules now require them to have a visa or Syrian spouse or child to enter the country. This was considered a reciprocal move by Damascus as Lebanon has for years imposed similar restrictions on Syrians.
Throughout the conflict in Syria which began in 2011, Lebanon has hosted about 2 million Syrian refugees, although the UN says only about 900,000 are registered.
Calls to repatriate Syrians – who make up about a third of Lebanon’s total population – have increased since the new authorities took power in Damascus, arguing that the Assad regime which had been a main hurdle for their return no longer exists. But many Syrian refugees say they have no homes to return to at the moment.
