As Lebanon-Israel talks loom, can Syria help in curbing Hezbollah?
In the post-Assad landscape, Damascus is seeking to reshape its role — not as Lebanon’s power broker but as a reluctant neighbor aiming to curb Hezbollah while steering clear of deeper entanglement.
As US-brokered talks begin between Israel and Lebanon and a ceasefire takes effect between the two, Syria is having to consider a familiar question: What role, if any, can Damascus play next door without reopening the wounds of its past?
Officially, Syria has adopted a policy of nonintervention despite deep hostility toward Hezbollah. Damascus says it respects Lebanese sovereignty and has no plans to enter the conflict, even as it deploys troops and equipment along the border.
President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who recently visited Germany and the United Kingdom, faces growing US pressure to constrain Hezbollah, which increasingly relies on smuggling routes through Syria to replenish its arsenal.
The challenge for Damascus is to curb Hezbollah’s activity without sliding back into direct involvement in Lebanon — a move that would revive memories of Syria’s 30-year-long presence there. Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1975 under Arab League cover to quell the civil war but remained as an occupying force until a popular uprising forced their withdrawal in 2005.
