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Lebanon's prime minister is to visit Damascus "soon", the information minister said on Tuesday - the first such visit since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized power in Syria last month.

"There will be a visit to Syria soon, headed by Prime Minister [Najib] Mikati," Ziad Makary told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The announcement comes a few days after Syria imposed new entry restrictions on Lebanese citizens and a border clash between the Lebanese army and Syrian militants.

The tighter border rules now require Lebanese nationals to have a visa or have a Syrian spouse or child to enter the country. Lebanese nationals had previously been allowed into the country with just their passport or ID card.

The move came after five Lebanese soldiers were injured in what said was a border skirmish with unidentified armed Syrians.

Mikati's office said at the time that he had a phone call with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, during which they discussed bilateral relations as well as the border clash.

He also said Sharaa had invited him for an official visit.

Lebanese politicians have been divided over ties with Damascus, especially after Hezbollah fighters fought alongside Bashar al-Assad's forces in the Syrian civil war.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem admitted that with Assad's fall, his group could no longer be supplied militarily through Syria.

Last month, Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa told visiting Lebanese Druze leaders that his country would not negatively interfere in Lebanon and would respect its sovereignty.

Lebanese army deploys deeper into south as Israel withdraws

The Lebanese army has begun deploying units into towns deep in the country’s south as Israeli troops continue the phased withdrawal set out in November’s ceasefire agreement.

Lebanese troops were moving into areas close to the Israeli border on Tuesday, including coastal towns Al-Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab, the army said in .

The deployment is being coordinated with the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, and the five-member committee monitoring the ceasefire.

A truce brokered by the US and France went into effect at the end of November, bringing an end to the 14-month cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel, which expanded in September and saw Israel launch a deadly air campaign on southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and southern suburbs of Beirut as well as ground operations on border villages.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel agreed to pull out of the country within 60 days, with the Lebanese deploying south of the Litani River and preventing Hezbollah from reconstituting its forces.

Israeli forces killed more than 3,700 Lebanese during the war, which began when Hezbollah intervened in the Gaza conflict in November 2023.

Over a million predominantly Shia citizens were displaced from their homes in Israeli airstrikes in the south, the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut.