Syria’s foreign minister said during a visit to Beirut on Thursday that Syria was open to meeting the Iran-backed ‌Lebanese group Hezbollah “if interests require it”, Lebanon’s state news agency reported.

Asaad al-Shibani met Lebanese government leaders, including President Joseph Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. It was his first visit there since US President Donald Trump rasied the possibility of Syrian forces combating Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ​previously denied what he called rumours about any Syrian presence entering Lebanon.

The former rebels and commanders who now run ​Syria fought against Hezbollah for years while it deployed to Syria to support former President Bashar al-Assad.

Now ⁠that they are in power, they are having to calibrate alliances and military action carefully in efforts to maintain relative stability in ​Syria, which is still recovering from 14 years of civil war.

Shibani said the “Hezbollah file” was not raised during his meetings in Lebanon ​on Thursday, but that Syria was open to meeting the group, the Lebanese state news agency cited him as saying. It did not immediately publish any further comments from Shibani.

A statement from Aoun said that neighbours Syria and Lebanon wanted each other’s stability and that Sharaa had assured him that Syria ​would not take sides in Lebanon’s internal issues.

Syria’s new government under former al-Qaeda commander Sharaa has emerged as a US ally ​since his forces toppled President Bashar al-Assad in 2024 and has largely stayed out of the regional war between the US and Israel and Iran.

Hezbollah ‌is in ⁠a war with Israel that has brought destruction to large parts of southern Lebanon. US-sponsored efforts to halt fighting between the two sides have reduced hostilities but failed to bring peace.

Trump said last month he had spoken to Sharaa about combating Hezbollah, after criticising Israel for killing too many civilians in Lebanon. “I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with ​you, I think they do a ​better job of doing it,” ⁠Trump said.

Damascus is wary of being drawn into war

Sharaa has since said that “the rumours circulating about Syria entering Lebanon are completely unfounded”, according to Syrian state media.

Reuters reported in March that the US had encouraged ​Syria to consider sending forces into eastern Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah, but that Damascus was ​reluctant to embark ⁠on such a mission for fear of being sucked into the war in the Middle East and inflaming sectarian tensions in Syria and Lebanon.

Trump’s special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, dismissed the report of the US encouraging Syria to send forces into Lebanon as “false and inaccurate”.

Syria long ⁠dominated Lebanon ​under the Assad family, sending in forces in 1976 during the 1975-90 civil ​war and controlling Lebanon’s post-war politics until its withdrawal in 2005.