Lebanese Patriarch Renews Debate over Syria Border Demarcation in Shebaa Farms

Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai. (NNA)
Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai. (NNA)
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Lebanese Patriarch Renews Debate over Syria Border Demarcation in Shebaa Farms

Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai. (NNA)
Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai. (NNA)

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai revived on Sunday debate over the demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border in the southern Shebaa Farms region.

He made his remarks days after parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced that a framework had been agreed upon to begin indirect US-mediated talks with Israel on land and maritime border demarcation, which will be led by the Lebanese army.

"We should work to demarcate the borders with Syria in the area of Shebaa Farms to end the abnormal and ambiguous situation there," the Patriarch said during Sunday mass.

Rai welcomed the framework agreement, which will allow Lebanon to restore its international border line in the South, facilitate the extraction of its maritime wealth of oil and gas, and end the series of attacks and wars between Lebanon and Israel, according to Resolution 1701 of the Security Council, which places it on a path of peaceful negotiation instead of fighting, without this implying a process of normalization.

“On this occasion, an agreement must be found to resolve the issue of the presence of about half a million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon,” Rai continued, adding that through more resilience, Lebanon is bound to overcome its ordeals.

Touching on the political situation in the country, the Patriarch addressed the ruling class, saying: "You are not the masters of the people, but rather servants," regretting, with great pain, the departure of many Lebanese people in search of work opportunities, security and a decent life abroad.

“As I share their disappointment with everything, yes everything, I invite you, our young women and men, to think carefully before making the decision to migrate," he said.

“Amid the deliberate impasse, where there is no government, no rescue plan, no reforms, no respect for the constitution and no shame, we should all think about making a breakthrough without waiting for foreign developments,” he urged.

“Waiting for the outside proves that parties have loyalties abroad,” he remarked.

He underlined the “enormity of the situation and the possibility that various developments may take place.”

This demands the need to form a government that can meet the aspirations of the people so that constitutional work can take its course and so that no one can take advantage of the “constitutional coma”, caretaker government or coronavirus pandemic for their own interests.

“We hope all spiritual, official, political and partisan leaderships would again turn to the constitution, listen to the people and end the country’s deep crisis,” Rai declared.



Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
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Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo

Syria expects to have its first transaction with a US bank "in a matter of weeks", Syrian central bank governor Abdelkader Husriyeh said on Thursday, a day after a high-level meeting between Syrian and US commercial banks.

The resumption of transfers between Syrian and US banks would be a key milestone in the push by Syria’s new rulers to reintegrate the country into the global financial system after 14 years of civil war, Reuters reported.

Husriyeh on Wednesday held a virtual conference bringing together Syrian banks, several US banks and US officials, including Washington's Syria Envoy Thomas Barrack, with the aim of speeding up the reconnection of Syria's banking system to the global financial system.

This follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement in May that all sanctions on Syria would be lifted. That has been followed up with executive orders formally lifting some of the measures.

Syria's reintegration into the global financial system would be a major step towards enabling the kind of large financial transactions needed to kickstart its reconstruction and economic activity, and help rein in a highly informal, cash-based economy.

Husriyeh extended a formal invitation to US banks to re-establish correspondent banking ties following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on 2011 protests resulted in Western countries imposing one of the world’s strictest sanctions regimes.

"We have two clear targets: have US banks set up representative offices in Syria and have transactions resume between Syrian and American banks. I think the latter can happen in a matter of weeks," Husriyeh told Reuters.

Among the banks invited to Wednesday’s conference were JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank, though it was not immediately clear who attended.