Lebanon and Syria took steps on Wednesday to advance judicial cooperation, as officials from both countries convened in Beirut for their third joint meeting aimed at resolving longstanding legal disputes and detainee cases.

Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri hosted the Syrian delegation in his office, with Justice Minister Adel Nassar attending part of the session. The joint Lebanese-Syrian, legal-judicial committee reviewed a first draft of a bilateral judicial cooperation agreement and exchanged lists of Syrian detainees held in Lebanon.

The discussion focused in particular on Syrians arrested on charges of belonging to factions opposed to the former Syrian regime but who are not accused of committing crimes in Lebanon. Officials stressed the need for urgent action on certain cases and called for accelerating work on the draft accord, which would provide a legal framework for addressing the issue of Syrian prisoners and detainees in Lebanon comprehensively.

The talks also included a meeting between delegations from the two national commissions on the disappeared and forcibly missing. The sides exchanged preliminary information and agreed to draft a memorandum of understanding on data-sharing and cooperation in the search for missing persons believed to be alive, as well as efforts to establish the fate of those who have disappeared.