Lead:

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani conducted an official visit to Lebanon on Thursday, meeting President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, and other senior officials. The visit, which culminated in the signing of an agreement establishing a Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Joint Committee, signals a significant reset in bilateral relations and arrives at a moment of intense domestic debate over Lebanon's framework agreement with Israel brokered in Washington.

Details:

Al-Shaibani's tour carried both symbolic and substantive weight. According to Newsd Lebanon, President Aoun told al-Shaibani that Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara had repeatedly affirmed, across multiple meetings and calls, that Syria's future role would differ fundamentally from its past conduct and that a new chapter had opened between the two countries in which Syria would not take sides against any Lebanese party. Al-Shaibani, for his part, stated that Syria's position firmly rejects Israeli aggression against Lebanon, while characterizing the framework agreement as an internal Lebanese matter for which the Lebanese government bears full responsibility. He also indicated openness to meeting Hezbollah if Lebanese national interest so required.

Al-Akhbar reported that Lebanon and Syria formally signed the agreement establishing the Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Joint Committee, replacing the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council created in 1991. Annahar described the visit as inaugurating a new Syrian approach built on mutual respect for borders and sovereignty, and distancing the new Damascus from any scenario of interference in Lebanese internal affairs. The reception al-Shaibani received in the northern city of Tripoli was notably warm, according to Lebanon Files, which reported large crowds greeting his motorcade in the streets.

On the domestic front, the Washington framework agreement continued to generate sharp disagreement within the Lebanese cabinet and political class. Addiyar reported that ministers affiliated with the Amal-Hezbollah bloc expressed categorical rejection of the agreement in both form and substance during the cabinet session, with Environment Minister Tamara al-Zein demanding that the circumstances of the session not be repeated. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, speaking to multiple outlets including Newsd, described the framework agreement as the only available path out of the state of war, while Free Patriotic Movement leader Gibran Bassil stated support for some of its provisions but rejected its implementation mechanisms and obligations. Independent MP Paula Yaacobian told Addiyar that the agreement is not a treaty and must be debated in parliament.

Watch For:

Whether the newly established Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Joint Committee will move quickly to address border demarcation and the file of Lebanese detainees held in Syria, two issues that dominated al-Shaibani's agenda.

Whether the Amal-Hezbollah bloc's rejection of the Washington framework agreement will escalate into a formal parliamentary challenge or street mobilization, particularly following the rally organized in Bar Elias against normalization.

How Lebanon's first reported participation in the CENTCOM regional security dialogue, flagged by Addiyar as a significant signal, will affect the domestic political balance and relations with Iran-aligned factions.