Albares travels to Lebanon and Syria on a new tour of the Middle East

• The minister will meet with Lebanese political leaders and the UNIFIL command, just as the 60-day period established in the ceasefire agreement that came into effect in November is about to conclude

• He will hold meetings with representatives of the new administration and Syrian civil society barely a month after the fall of the Al-Assad regime

The minister begins his latest tour of the Middle East making his first stop in Beirut, where high-level political meetings are planned to discuss the situation in the country following the resumption on 9 January of the parliamentary process to elect new authorities to resolve the institutional vacuum the country has faced since 2022. Minister Albares will address the bilateral relationship and Spain's solidarity contribution to Lebanon through Spanish Cooperation, which he will discuss with the Lebanese Minister of Health.

Albares, who visited Lebanon around this time last year, plans to meet with United Nations Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Special Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza to discuss the humanitarian situation in the region.

The minister's agenda also includes a meeting with General Aroldo Lázaro, head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and with General Joseph Aoun of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), with whom he will assess compliance with the ceasefire agreement reached on 27 November, Spain's support for the redeployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces in the south of the country, and the role, in this new phase, of UNIFIL, of which Spain is one of the main contributors.

The following day, the Spanish minister is scheduled to travel to Damascus on his first visit to the country, five weeks after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs also plans to meet with leaders of the country's ethnic and religious minorities and women in civil society, as well as with humanitarian organisations working on the ground in support of a peaceful and inclusive political process. He also plans to visit Sednaya prison in memory of the victims of repression under the Al-Assad regime.

Albares further wishes to recognise the work of the staff at the Spanish Embassy in Syria with a personal meeting and a visit to the facilities, where he will preside over the raising of the flag. The flag was lowered with the Ambassador's departure in 2012 and has not been raised since.

-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-​