Syria and Turkey deny report of secret Hezbollah talks

Syrian government officials and representatives of Lebanon’s Hezbollah met secretly in Turkey in September to ease tensions, according to reports published on Oct. 1. Syria and Turkey separately denied that the meeting took place, leaving the first reported direct encounter between the two sides publicly contested.¹²³⁵

Conflicting accounts

The reported discussions brought together Hezbollah representatives and officials from Syrian intelligence and the Syrian Foreign Ministry, according to accounts citing sources briefed on the matter. Turkish security and intelligence agencies invited the delegations, the reports said, as Ankara sought a direct role in efforts to rebuild and stabilise Syria.¹²³⁴

Syria’s Ministry of Information rejected the account on Oct. 1, saying that government representatives had not met Hezbollah. A Syrian foreign media spokesperson said: “These claims are false” and “No such meeting took place.” Turkey’s government also dismissed the report, while its Directorate of Communications said claims that Turkish intelligence hosted the encounter were entirely unfounded.²⁵⁷

Reuters cited six sources briefed on the matter, according to Middle East Eye. The news agency could not confirm the meeting’s precise location within Turkey, its duration or whether other meetings had occurred. Al Jazeera reported that indirect contact between Syria and Hezbollah through Turkey had begun about two months earlier.²⁴⁷

Security demands

According to reports, Damascus’s representatives urged Hezbollah at the talks to assist in curbing smuggling across the border and disbanding cells still operating in Syria, especially in the south. The accounts say Hezbollah offered no explicit response to the requests, though it pledged to stay out of Syria’s domestic affairs.¹²³⁴

Damascus also reportedly assured Hezbollah that Syrian forces would not enter Lebanon to disarm the group. The two sides were said to have agreed that neither regarded the other with hostility. A Lebanese security source close to Hezbollah said the discussion had “made a lot of progress on security issues”, although no final agreement was reached and no public announcement was planned.¹²³⁴

The discussions also covered a Syrian claim that authorities had detained a Hezbollah cell allegedly preparing rocket launches from southern Syria. Hezbollah denied responsibility and said it maintained no military or security presence in the country. Both the Syrian accusation and Hezbollah’s response remain unconfirmed.¹³⁴⁶

A changed relationship

The meeting was described as the first known direct encounter between the new Syrian government and Hezbollah. Before Bashar al-Assad was removed from power in December 2024, the Lebanese movement had spent years providing military support to his government in the Syrian conflict.¹³⁴⁵

Public statements had indicated some willingness to establish contact. In July, Syria’s top diplomat, Asaad al-Shaibani, indicated that Damascus was willing to meet Hezbollah; the following month, the group’s leader, Naim Qassem, said it was receptive to discussions with the Syrian leadership.⁴⁵

Iran, Hezbollah’s principal sponsor, knew that the group would attend but was not represented directly and was disappointed by its exclusion, according to several reports. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had, for the time being, rejected direct relations with Tehran. The absence of a final agreement was attributed in one account partly to Iran’s response and Sharaa’s position.¹³⁴