The Central Bank of Syria has ordered banks to fully cover $1.6 billion in losses tied to the Lebanese financial sector within six months. The short deadline, announced by Governor Abdulkader Husrieh, is sending shockwaves through Syria’s banking system.

More than two decades after his last visit to Syria, when he served as head of Lebanon’s Sunni Sharia Courts, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian ended a long-standing boycott of Damascus with a short visit on Saturday.