Syria denies existence of its intelligence in Lebanon

Syria denied on Thursday that members of its intelligence are still active in Lebanon.

One Syrian official said that talking about this issue aims at undermining Syria's role and damaging for the Syrian- Lebanese relations, and this is "not in the interests of the two countries." The Syrian official simultaneously denied what was stated in the statement of the Maronite bishops of continued presence of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Maronite Bishops council on Wednesday accused the Syrian intelligence of having "invisible" presence in Lebanon. A statement by the council said that there are incidents that "raise concern, including continued work of Syrian and non-Syrian intelligence within the Lebanese territories, in an invisible way,"

The statement accused the Syrian intelligence directly of "continuing implanting of explosives in the Lebanese territories" targeting the violation of security in general, in the Christian areas, and the resulted acts of assassination and assassination attempts. A situation which violates general security and raises concern among the Lebanese."

On the other hand, the Maronite bishops criticized Syria's closure of its borders with Lebanon, stressing that relations with Syria are "historical and intermingled and cannot be ignored, rather needs to be preserved via establishing cooperation between the two countries on equal footing without blocking borders."

Syrian army officially ended its withdrawal from Lebanon on April 26th after 29 years in response to international pressure made on Damascus following the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri on February 14.