–

In its first official message from the new administration in Damascus, Lebanon said it hoped to establish the best possible neighborly relations with Syria.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib conveyed this message to his Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shibani during a telephone conversation, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the X website.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah played a major role in supporting ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war and then returned its fighters to Lebanon last year after the start of a bloody war with Israel. The redeployment has weakened Syrian government lines.

Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to transport weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, to Lebanon. But on December 6, anti-Assad rebels seized the border with Iraq and closed the route, and two days later Islamist rebels captured the capital Damascus.

Syria’s new Islamist de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is seeking to improve relations with Arab and Western leaders after Assad’s overthrow.

Cursor previously wrote that, according to FA, the fall of the Assad regime increased the stakes of the war in Ukraine for Putin. Putin sacrificed his influence in the Middle East to focus his efforts on the war in Ukraine.

We also reported that Assad’s wife could die in Moscow. According to journalists, the condition of 49-year-old Asma raises serious concerns.