DAMASCUS, Syria: Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa told Lebanese Druze leaders on Sunday that his country would not negatively interfere in Lebanon and would respect its neighbour’s sovereignty.
Syria will no longer exert “negative interference in Lebanon at all — it respects Lebanon’s sovereignty, the unity of its territories, the independence of its decisions and its security stability,” Sharaa told visiting Druze chiefs Walid and Taymur Jumblatt.
Walid Jumblatt is the first Lebanese figure to meet Sharaa since his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied groups launched a lightning offensive last month, seizing Damascus on December 8 and ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Syria “will stay at equal distance from all” in Lebanon, Sharaa added, acknowledging that Syria has been a “source of fear and anxiety” for the country.
Walid Jumblatt arrived in Damascus Sunday at the head of a delegation of lawmakers from his parliamentary bloc and religious figures from Lebanon’s Druze minority.
He met with Sharaa at the presidential palace, where the new Syrian leader was wearing a suit and tie.
HTS has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, including the United States. After taking Damascus, the group vowed to protect Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities.
Sharaa said no sects would be excluded in Syria in what he described as “a new era far removed from sectarianism.”
“We take pride in our culture, our religion and our Islam. Being part of the Islamic environment does not mean the exclusion of other sects. On the contrary, it is our duty to protect them,” he said during the meeting with Jumblatt.
Jumblatt, a veteran politician and prominent Druze leader, said at the meeting that Assad’s ouster should usher in new constructive relations between Lebanon and Syria.
Sharaa also said he would send a government delegation to the southwestern Druze city of Sweida, pledging to provide services to its community and highlighting Syria’s “rich diversity of sects.”
Seeking to allay worries about the future of Syria, Sharaa has hosted numerous foreign visitors in recent days and has vowed to prioritize rebuilding Syria, devastated by 13 years of civil war.
