The security border deal signed by the Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers in Saudi Arabia late Thursday came after clashes in border areas earlier this month left several people dead and dozens wounded on both sides. [Getty]
The defence ministers of Lebanon and Syria signed an agreement in Jeddah “to address security and military threats” along their common border, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday.
The accord comes after frontier clashes this month that left 10 people dead.
SPA reported that Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra met in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Thursday “to discuss issues of mutual interest aimed at achieving security and stability between Syria and Lebanon”.
It said they signed an agreement on “the strategic importance of border demarcation, the establishment of Syrian-Lebanese legal and specialised committees… and the activation of coordination mechanisms to address security and military threats”, particularly on the border.
Menassa had been due to visit Damascus on Wednesday, but the trip was postponed at Syria’s request, sources on both sides said.
A Syrian government source told news agency AFP that Menassa’s visit was pushed back due to “preparations for the formation of a new government” in Damascus.
A Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the postponement was “in no way related to tensions or conflicts”.
The trip was to be the first to Damascus by a Lebanese minister since a government was formed in Beirut in February.
Border tensions flared earlier in March after Syria’s new authorities accused the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah of abducting three soldiers into Lebanon and killing them.
The Iran-backed group, which had been an ally of toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, denied involvement, but ensuing cross-border clashes left seven Lebanese dead.
