New Delhi, Feb. 4 -- Lebanon's relationship with Syria is "radically different" since the fall of former President Bashar Assad, the senior Lebanese minister tasked with managing the country's relations with its neighbor said on Tuesday.

"Under the Assad regime, Lebanon was de facto under Syrian tutelage. The Syrian regime interfered in domestic affairs in so many ways," Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told The Associated Press. "The present Syrian government is neither interested in hegemony over Lebanon nor is it interfering in our internal affairs."

Mitri was speaking days after Lebanon's cabinet approved a treaty with Syria under which Lebanon will transfer more than 300 sentenced prisoners to finish their prison sentences in Syri...