Reuters: Syrian officials held secret talks with Hezbollah in Türkiye

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On Thursday, Reuters quoted six informed sources as confirming that representatives of the Syrian government and Lebanese Hezbollah held direct talks in Turkey in an attempt to calm tensions between the two sides, which is the first meeting of its kind between the two parties, which have long been adversaries.

The sources, which included two Syrian officials, an American official, and a senior Lebanese security source close to Hezbollah, said that Syrian officials and representatives of Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, met secretly at least once last month.

For years, Hezbollah had been sending fighters to Syria to defend Bashar al-Assad's government during the civil war the country witnessed.

After Assad's ouster in late 2024, tensions escalated between the new Syrian government and Hezbollah, with Damascus accusing the group of transporting weapons through Syria, while the United States encouraged the Syrian army to send troops to Lebanon to fight Hezbollah.

The six sources said that last month's meeting included representatives of Hezbollah and officials from the intelligence and Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was held at the invitation of the Turkish security and intelligence services in an attempt to calm the situation.

The American official, the two Syrian officials, and the Lebanese source said that the meeting focused on resolving the points of tension between the two parties, and it went well.

One Syrian official stated that the two sides agreed that there was no hostility between them, and that Syria assured Hezbollah that it would not intervene militarily in Lebanon to disarm the group.

The official said that Syrian officials, in turn, asked Hezbollah to help stop cross-border smuggling attempts and dismantle its remaining sleeper cells, especially in southern Syria.

Syria announced on Tuesday that it had arrested a Hezbollah cell that was preparing to launch missiles in southern Syria. Yesterday, Wednesday, Hezbollah denied its involvement in the matter, and said that it has no presence at all on Syrian territory nor any involvement in any security or military activity there.

The Syrian official said that Hezbollah representatives did not provide a direct response to the request to stop weapons smuggling and dismantle its cells in Syria, but they pledged not to interfere in Syrian affairs.

The Lebanese source, who has direct knowledge of the meeting and its results, commented that the two sides “have made great progress on security issues.”

Both the Syrian official and the Lebanese source said that no final agreement had been reached, and that there was no plan to make an announcement.

The Lebanese source told Reuters that communication between the two parties via Türkiye began about two months ago.