Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati led a delegation on Saturday heading to Syria on a one-day visit to meet with the new Syrian leadership, the Central News Agency said.
The visit comes at the invitation of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the new Syrian administration.
The delegation includes caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Acting General Security chief Elias al-Baysari, Army Intelligence chief Brigadier General Tony Khawaji, and Deputy Director General of General Security Brigadier General Hassan Shukair.
The visit will be the first by a Lebanese premier to neighboring Syria in 15 years.
Lebanon's new president, Joseph Aoun, said on Thursday there was a historic opportunity for "a serious and equal dialogue" with Syria, which had big sway over its neighbor during much of the Assad family's five decades in power, maintaining troops there for 29 years until 2005 - a role many Lebanese opposed.
Sharaa, leader of the opposition forces which toppled Assad on Dec. 8, pledged last month - during a meeting in Damascus with influential Lebanese Druze politician Walid Jumblatt - that Syria would not interfere in Lebanon's affairs.
Mikati last week received a phone invitation from Sharaa to visit Syria.
Minister Bou Habib said during a Dec. 26 call with his Syrian counterpart that Beirut was looking forward to the best neighborly relations with Syria.
