Lebanese ministers to make highest level visit to Syria in years

A delegation from Lebanon’s caretaker government will visit Syria on Saturday in the highest-level visit in years, aiming to pave the way for a plan to ease a power crisis in Lebanon by transmitting electricity via the Syrian grid.

Lebanese government officials have mostly avoided Syria since the war began there in 2011 as Beirut adopted a policy of staying out of regional conflicts.

Lebanon is suffering energy shortages that have forced even essential services including hospitals to shut down or scale back operations. The crisis is the result of a wider financial meltdown that has devastated the economy since 2019.

The delegation, to be led by the deputy prime minister and defense minister, Zeina Akar, will discuss the plan by which Egyptian gas will be used to generate electricity in Jordan that will then be transmitted via Syria, a Lebanese official said.

A Syrian information ministry statement said Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad would receive the Lebanese delegation including the ministers of finance and energy at the border on Saturday.

The United States has said it is in talks with Egypt, Jordan, and the World Bank to help find solutions to Lebanon’s energy crisis. The Lebanese presidency said last month Washington had decided to help through this plan.

U.S. sanctions on Damascus are a complicating factor in any effort to help Lebanon via Syria, an issue discussed by U.S. senators who visited Lebanon this week.

U.S. sanctions on Syria include the Caesar Act, which Washington applied last year and which can freeze assets of anyone dealing with Syria, regardless of nationality.