Syria will intervene in Lebanon provided that requested by the Lebanese authorities, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa reiterated in a televised interview on Sunday, dismissing any speedy intervention in his neighbor’s affairs after feedback from US President Donald Trump.
Al-Sharaa advised Al Mashhad information channel that if it serves the pursuits of each Lebanon and Syria, he’s open to sitting down with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group he spent years combating as a militant throughout the Syrian civil conflict.
Last week, Trump advised reporters he had recommended to Israel that Syria ought to hold Hezbollah in test, as a result of “they would do a better job.”
“(Trump’s) statements were interpreted as if Syrian forces would enter Lebanon tomorrow morning,” al-Sharaa stated. He rejected any speedy intervention and as an alternative recommended there may very well be “a positive role for Syria through Lebanon’s state institutions.”
Under former chief Hafez al-Assad, Syria dominated Lebanon’s political scene for almost three a long time till 2005. Syrian forces first deployed into the neighboring nation throughout its civil conflict in 1976 — ostensibly as peacekeepers — however remained lengthy after the combating stopped and maintained a navy presence that’s seen by many as an occupation.
Al-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria in late 2024 and has pursued insurance policies markedly completely different from these of his predecessors, favoring nonintervention, opposing Iran — which backed Assad — and looking for dialogue with former adversaries corresponding to Israel.
“Lebanon needs creative solutions. We cannot keep going around in circles and choosing the same old traditional solutions,” he stated in an obvious reference to Syria’s previous navy intervention in Lebanon underneath the al-Assad regime.
Still, al-Sharaa stated Syria possesses many instruments to “positively influence” Lebanon.
“Why is Lebanon always given a choice between a civil war and an Israeli war? Why isn’t there a third option?” he stated.