Ammon News - Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will meet Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Saturday, two Lebanese sources said, becoming the first head of government to visit Syria's capital since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The visit will also be the first by a Lebanese premier to neighbouring Syria in 15 years.

Lebanon's new president, Joseph Aoun, said on Thursday there was a historic opportunity for "a serious and equal dialogue" with Syria, which had big sway over its neighbour during much of the Assad family's five decades in power, maintaining troops there for 29 years until 2005 - a role many Lebanese opposed.

Mikati last week received a phone invitation from Sharaa to visit Syria. Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who is expected to accompany Mikati, said during a Dec. 26 call with his Syrian counterpart that Beirut was looking forward to the best neighbourly relations with Syria.

The last Lebanese premier to visit Damascus was Saad al-Hariri, who went there in 2010.

Ties between Damascus and Beirut have often been fraught since they became independent states in the 1940s. Reuters