عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council Remarkably Active

President Michel Aoun meet with Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Council, Nasri Khoury in October 2018 (NNA)
President Michel Aoun meet with Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Council, Nasri Khoury in October 2018 (NNA)
TT
TT

Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council Remarkably Active

President Michel Aoun meet with Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Council, Nasri Khoury in October 2018 (NNA)
President Michel Aoun meet with Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Supreme Council, Nasri Khoury in October 2018 (NNA)

Damascus seeks to boost its presence in Lebanon by reviving the Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council.

The Council’s Secretary-General, Nasri Khoury, resumed his activities in the Lebanese internal sector, years after freezing this role due to the crisis in Syria.

“The work of the Higher Council and its secretariat has not stopped in the past few years, even if such role was not highlighted in the media,” Khoury told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday.

He said he was always following up on the implementation of signed agreements between the two countries, within the limits permitted during the conflict in Syria.

After the formation of a government in Lebanon this year, Khoury asked to meet with a number of ministers to activate work on a number of agreements signed between Lebanon and Syria, he said.

Khoury has already met with some ministers and is waiting to get appointments from others.

“The Higher Council secretariat contributed in 2013 and 2014 to placing a joint plan for the return of Syrian refugees to their homes. However, things got complicated after the Lebanese side withdrew from accepting a formula reached with the Syrian side,” Khoury explained.

Notably, the Council was created following a treaty signed on May 22, 1991, and constituted a major leap in the two states' relationships, after Beirut was under Syrian tutelage.

The Council was formed by the presidents of Lebanon and Syria, in addition to the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Vice Prime Minister of Syria and the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Vice Prime Minister of Lebanon.

However, after the two countries resumed official diplomatic relations in 2008 by opening respective embassies in Damascus and Beirut, several observers questioned the utility of keeping the Higher Council alive.

Currently, Damascus’ opponents in Beirut look suspiciously at Khoury’s dynamic to revive the council's role.

They believe that Syria was using the functions of the Council to recuperate its direct political role in Lebanon after it had dramatically declined in the past eight years.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Türkiye Begins Black Box Analysis of Jet Crash That Killed Libyan Military Chief and 7 Others

Libyan national flags fly at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
Libyan national flags fly at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
TT
TT

Türkiye Begins Black Box Analysis of Jet Crash That Killed Libyan Military Chief and 7 Others

Libyan national flags fly at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
Libyan national flags fly at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)

The technical analysis of the recovered black boxes from a jet crash that killed eight people, including western Libya’s military chief, began as the investigation proceeded in cooperation with Libyan authorities, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

The private jet with Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other military officials and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Türkiye’s capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.

The wreckage was scattered across an area covering 3 square kilometers (more than a square mile), complicating recovery efforts, according to the Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

A 22-person delegation, including five family members, arrived from Libya early on Wednesday to assist in the investigation.

Arab World

Lebanese President: We are Determined to Hold Parliamentary Elections on Time

President Joseph Aoun between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri (Lebanese Presidency file photo)
President Joseph Aoun between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri (Lebanese Presidency file photo)
TT
TT

Lebanese President: We are Determined to Hold Parliamentary Elections on Time

President Joseph Aoun between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri (Lebanese Presidency file photo)
President Joseph Aoun between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri (Lebanese Presidency file photo)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated on Thursday that the country’s parliamentary elections are a constitutional obligation that must be carried out on time.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency quoted Aoun as saying that he, alongside Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, is determined to hold the elections on schedule.

Aoun also emphasized that diplomatic efforts have continued unabated to keep the specter of war at bay, noting that "things are heading in a positive direction".

The agency also cited Berri reaffirming that the elections will take place as planned, with "no delays, no extensions".

The Lebanese parliamentary elections are scheduled for May next year.

Arab World

Israel Calls Countries Condemning New West Bank Settlements ‘Morally Wrong’

Newly constructed buildings are pictured in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on October 24, 2025. (AFP)
Newly constructed buildings are pictured in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on October 24, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Israel Calls Countries Condemning New West Bank Settlements ‘Morally Wrong’

Newly constructed buildings are pictured in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on October 24, 2025. (AFP)
Newly constructed buildings are pictured in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on October 24, 2025. (AFP)

Israel reacted furiously on Thursday to a condemnation by 14 countries including France and Britain of its approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the criticism discriminatory against Jews.

"Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.

"The cabinet decision to establish 11 new settlements and to formalize eight additional settlements is intended, among other things, to help address the security threats Israel is facing."

On Sunday, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Fourteen countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Canada, then issued a statement urging Israel to reverse its decision, "as well as the expansion of settlements".

Such unilateral actions, they said, "violate international law", and risk undermining a fragile ceasefire in Gaza in force since October 10.

They also reaffirmed their "unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution... where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side in peace and security".

Israel has occupied the West Bank following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law, had reached its highest level since at least 2017.