The visit by Prime Minister Najib Mikati was the first official trip by the Lebanese leader to meet with the new government of Syria.

Najib Mikati’s visit, the first in 15 years, comes amid pressure in Lebanon to release Islamists imprisoned during the civil war and just after the election of President Joseph Aoun.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will meet Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Saturday, two Lebanese sources said, becoming the first head of government to visit Syria's capital since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Damascus Saturday in the first such visit since before civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, an AFP journalist reported.

By Josiane Hajj Moussa for bnm Beirut bureau Nawaf Salam, the former President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has been appointed as Lebanon’s new Prime Minister after securing the backing of a parliamentary majority during consultations led by newly-installed President Joseph Aoun on January 13.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Damascus on Saturday in a bid to improve long-fraught ties, with the pair focusing on strengthening their shared border.

Lebanon and Syria will work together to secure their land borders, as well as to delineate both land and sea borders, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said during a visit to Damascus on Saturday.