DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria and Lebanon decided on Monday to boost border controls and anti-terrorism coordination, as the two neighbors took a new step to strengthen ties since diplomatic relations were established.

The decision came during the first visit to Damascus by a Lebanese interior minister since the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's five-time former premier Rafiq Hariri.
Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdul Majid in talks with his Lebanese counterpart Ziad Baroud agreed to set up a commission “to put into place the basis of coordination in the fight against terrorism and crime”.
According to a statement read out to reporters after their meeting, the commission would also be tasked with establishing a joint mechanism to control the border.
Baroud was accompanied by Lebanese security chiefs Wafiq Jizzini and Ashraf Rifi.
The visit comes almost three months after Lebanese President Michel Sleiman made a landmark visit to Damascus and less than a month after Syria and Lebanon decided to establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
Cross-border smuggling was set to figure high on the agenda of Baroud's talks, after Syria deployed reinforcements along its border with Lebanon in what it terms an anti-smuggling operation.
Baroud became the first Lebanese interior minister to visit Damascus since Syrian troops pulled out of Lebanon in April 2005 after an almost three-decade deployment.
Caption:
Syria's Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majeed (L) with his Lebanese counterpart Ziad Baroud before a meeting in Damascus November 10,2008.