Nawaf Salam plans to visit Syria soon

BEIRUT — Information Minister Paul Morcos confirmed Thursday, following the Cabinet session, that Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam plans to visit Syria soon.

"Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that he plans to go to Syria at the head of a ministerial delegation in order to discuss topics of cooperation and strengthen bilateral relations," Morcos said.

The delegation is expected to include the deputy prime minister as well as the ministers of economy and trade, public works and transport, and energy and water.

The information minister added that the head of government "is also continuing his contacts to consolidate the cease-fire, prevent Israeli aggression and stop destruction operations in towns in the south."

Israeli strikes continue despite a truce that went into effect on April 17 and have killed 2,727 people, injured 8,438, and displaced more than one million since early March, according to the latest figures.

Meanwhile, the information minister said he has transmitted, in coordination with his Syrian counterpart, the file of forcibly disappeared Lebanese journalist Samir Kassab, so it can be examined during Salam's visit to Syria.

The Sky News Arabia cameraman disappeared on Oct. 15, 2013, along with two colleagues, and his fate remains unclear. Since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in December 2024, the issue of Lebanese disappeared in Syria has resurfaced, with Beirut pressing for answers on hundreds of cases.

Morcos also said that "the government has approved some administrative files that had been blocked due to the war."

In response to a question about whether Lebanon has been notified about the date of the third round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations in Washington and whether Ambassador Simon Karam will participate, Minister Morcos replied: "We did not discuss this in the Cabinet, but there is of course coordination at the presidential level." Following that, a U.S. official told AFP that Israel and Lebanon will meet again in Washington next week to seek a peace agreement."