A senior official from Libya's UN-recognised government met Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Saturday and discussed issues including diplomatic relations, energy and migration.

Libya's Minister of Communications and Political Affairs arrived in Damascus on Saturday to hold meetings with Syria's interim authorities.

Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities handed over dozens of Syrian nationals, including former officers in the army, to the new administration in Damascus after they were caught illegally entering Lebanon.

Russia has begun withdrawing a large amount of military equipment and troops from Syria following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to two US officials and a western official familiar with the intelligence.

In fact, the scale of the challenge facing Syria is greater than that which confronted Libya in 2011. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown after less than a year of conflict that cost thousands of lives. But on his death, much of the country’s infrastructure remained intact. Libyan rebels had exported oil even before his overthrow.

The transfer marks the end of an era when Russia played an arguably oversized role in determining which countries could operate in Syria’s contested airspace.

Leaders in Rome fear Moscow's warships could be parked "two steps" from Italian shores, as Defense Minister Guido Crosetto put it.

A military official at al-Khadim air base in eastern Libya said that a half-dozen Russian planes — some coming from Russia and some from Syria — had arrived carrying military equipment since Dec. 8, when Syrian rebels overthrew Russia’s ally, Bashar al-Assad.

The country is deeply divided along religious and ethnic lines, which makes continuing violence one likely scenario.

Two African states are frustrating Moscow's efforts to establish a stronger military presence in the continent following the fall of Assad.

The collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria following a lightning rebel offensive in November has shaken Assad-ally Russia’s near-decade of influence in the country. It has also had one other lesser-known consequence: disrupting Moscow’s ability to recruit Syrian fighters for its war in Ukraine.

After the fall of the Assad regime, Russian cargo planes flew equipment from Syria to bases Moscow controls in eastern Libya, according to U.S. and Libyan officials.