Lebanese authorities have detained a former Syrian army officer following an arrest warrant from Damascus accusing him of “killing and crimes against humanity,” a judicial official tells AFP.
Adel Issa, a 67-year-old former officer in the Syrian army’s 17th brigade under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, headed to his country’s embassy in Beirut for paperwork on Friday, the official says on condition of anonymity.
When staff learned of an arrest warrant from Damascus filed in absentia for the “crimes of killing and crimes against humanity during his time with the Syrian army,” they called on Lebanese authorities to detain him, the official added.
He is still in their custody, and Lebanon’s public prosecutor has asked his Syrian counterpart to send the suspect’s extradition file before Beirut decides whether to hand him over.
Since Assad’s fall in December 2024, Syrian authorities have arrested dozens of people they say committed crimes during the country’s 13-year civil war, and trials began in April.
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