🔸Reuters, citing six sources, reported that representatives of the Syrian government and Lebanon’s Hezbollah met secretly face to face in Turkey last month in order to discuss reducing tensions and the security concerns of both sides.

🔸This is the first direct meeting between officials of the new Syrian government and Hezbollah since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government that has become public.

🔸The six informed sources, including two Syrian officials, one U.S. official, and a senior Lebanese security source close to Hezbollah, told Reuters on Thursday, the 9th of Mehr, that the meeting was held at the invitation of Turkey’s security and intelligence institutions, and that representatives of Hezbollah and officials from Syria’s intelligence apparatus and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were present.

🔸According to one Syrian official, Damascus assured Hezbollah that it would not intervene militarily in Lebanon for the disarmament of the group. In return, Syrian officials asked Hezbollah to cooperate to prevent smuggling at the border between the two countries and to dismantle its remaining networks, especially in southern Syria.