Syria's new leader Ahmad Sharaa called on Lebanon Saturday to forget about the past "negative" relations resulting from decades of the Assad family's rule.

Syria was the dominant power in Lebanon for three decades under the Assad family, with President Hafez al-Assad intervening in its 1975-1990 civil war and his son Bashar al-Assad only withdrawing Syria's troops in 2005 following mass protests triggered by the assassination of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Lebanon and Syria will work together to secure their land borders, as well as to delineate both land and sea borders, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Saturday in Damascus. In the first trip by a Lebanese prime minister to neighbouring Syria in 15 years,

Syria's new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanon's prime minister vowed on Saturday to build lasting ties after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa said the new Syria would "stay at equal distance

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

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.

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.

The visit by Lebanese PM Najib Mikati to Damascus marks the first for a senior Lebanese official to Syria in years