Vice President Farouk al-Shara met with politicians, businessmen and public figures from northern Lebanon who arrived in Syria to request the resumption in checkpoint operations. The closure of the border crossings in late May due to conflict in Lebanon negatively affected the region's economy, already damaged as a result of internal conflict.
The closure of the northern border left only one border checkpoint operating, which forced northern Lebanon residents to cross the whole country to reach the pass on the Beirut-Damascus highway.
Al-Shara said Syria supported the Lebanese army, "Syria was and remains on Lebanon's side with all its thoughts," he said.
The Syrian border is Lebanon's only overland exit from Lebanon to other countries. It carries out trade with Arab countries, and delivers transit cargos arriving in Lebanese ports on the Mediterranean through this border. Its closure would mean significant economic losses for Lebanon.
The Lebanese Army launched offensive operations May 20 against the al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam movement, whose members had barricaded themselves in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon, the siege ended early September.
According to the Lebanese government, over 220 militants belonging to Fatah were killed and more than 200 captured by the Lebanese Army in a 15-week operation to root them out of the refugee camp. More than 160 Lebanese soldiers died.
