BEIRUT — Syria’s foreign minister said during a visit to Beirut on Thursday that Syria was open to meeting the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah “if interests require it,” Lebanon’s state news agency reported.

Asaad al-Shaibani met Lebanese government leaders, including President Joseph Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. It was his first visit there since US President Donald Trump last month raised the possibility of Syrian forces combating Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has previously denied what he called rumors about any Syrian presence entering Lebanon. Beirut and Jerusalem have also ruled out the possibility.

The former rebels and commanders who now run Syria fought against Hezbollah for years while it deployed to Syria to support former president Bashar al-Assad.

Now that they are in power, they are having to calibrate alliances and military action carefully in efforts to maintain relative stability in Syria, which is still recovering from 14 years of civil war.

Shaibani said the “Hezbollah file” was not raised during his meetings in Lebanon on Thursday, but that Syria was open to meeting the group, the Lebanese state news agency cited him as saying.

In a later press conference, Shaibani said Lebanon and Syria had signed an agreement establishing a high-level cooperation committee to strengthen bilateral ties.

“All we bring to Lebanon is love and a commitment to overcoming the painful legacy in relations between the two countries,” he said.

A statement from Aoun said........

© The Times of Israel