Nawaf Salam Meets Ahmad El-Chareh In Damascus To Coordinate Lebanon’s Israel Negotiations

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam led a ministerial delegation to Damascus on Saturday to discuss with Syrian President Ahmad el-Chareh the detainees, the border, and economic cooperation, while also focusing on the ongoing conflict and negotiations with Israel.

L'Orient-Le Jour frames the visit as part of a push for a "coordination" in negotiations with Israel, with Lebanese officials fearing waning American interest in the Lebanese dossier.

Al Jazeera

The Al-Sharq Al-Awsat explainer says direct peace talks between Lebanese and Israeli representatives began in the U.S. capital for the first time in decades, according to AFP.

It also recalls that Lebanon signed an armistice agreement with Israel at Ras al-Naqoura on March 23, 1949, and that Israel violated those armistice agreements during the June 1967 six-day Arab–Israeli war.

In November 2024, the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat timeline says an agreement was reached that put an end to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, while Israel continued bombing border areas to destroy Hezbollah sites and eliminate its leaders.

Elnashra says a new round of negotiations in Washington has begun between the Lebanese and Israeli delegations under American sponsorship, with Lebanon demanding a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal and Israel conditioning signing a security agreement first.

It adds that Israel seeks to end Hezbollah militarily and to turn southern Lebanon into a zone under security control, including a border buffer area along the frontier, as part of an Israeli project to create buffer zones around Israel.

El-Nashra

Elnashra also says the Lebanese government can sign a security agreement without needing Parliament, and it notes that Nabih Berri was one of the makers of the 2022 maritime border agreement while he currently opposes any agreement that would prevent Lebanon's conditions.

The same source describes Washington as playing two cards: turning southern Lebanon into an economic zone, essentially Donald Trump’s plan, or turning the south into a security zone under rules that would ensure peace and Israel's security.

L'Orient-Le Jour’s account of the Damascus talks emphasizes that the two countries hope to weigh in together on negotiations with Israel, particularly as Lebanese officials fear waning American interest in the Lebanese dossier.

Elnashra warns that opposition in Lebanon could push the country into a more dangerous political and popular crisis later if Berri and Hezbollah do not agree, even as Lebanon wants to stop the war first.

“A new round of negotiations in Washington has begun between the Lebanese and Israeli delegations, under American sponsorship”

El-Nashra

It says Hezbollah and Amal oppose direct negotiation and are watching the Pakistan track, which it describes as potentially imposing a comprehensive regional settlement within international balances shifted toward China.

The source also claims only the Pakistan track, if it regains momentum after the China summit, will speed up any agreement and make Lebanon part of broader regional stability.

In parallel, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’s negotiation history notes that in December 2025 civilian officials joined Lebanese and Israeli military personnel in meetings of the ceasefire monitoring committee in southern Lebanon led by the United States and including France and the United Nations.

L'Orient-Le Jour links the diplomatic effort to economic cooperation and the longstanding common dossiers raised by Salam and Syrian President Ahmad el-Chareh, while keeping the negotiations with Israel at the center of the agenda.