Lebanon authorities detain Bashar Assad-era officer

Lebanese authorities detained a former senior Syrian military officer who commanded an army division under ousted President Bashar Assad and might hand him over to Damascus on alleged crimes that he committed, Lebanese judicial and security officials said on Saturday.

After the fall of Assad’s Government in December 2024, when Syrian insurgent groups captured his seat of power in Damascus, a number of military and security officers fled to neighbouring Lebanon, where some still remain.

If Major General Adel Issa is sent to his home country, it will be the first time Beirut has handed back an Assad-era official.

Since the ouster, dozens of members of Assad’s security agencies blamed for atrocities have been arrested and put on trial in Syria.  The officials said Issa, who once commanded Syria’s military 17th Division, went to the Syrian embassy in Beirut on Friday for some paperwork. Embassy officials contacted Lebanon’s prosecutor’s office to tell them that Issa is wanted in Syria, the officials said. The Lebanese Public Prosecutor’s Office dispatched a team from the Central Criminal Investigation Department and arrested Issa and transferred him to the Beirut Palace of Justice detention centre, said the officials.

The four judicial and two security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media about the matter.

Issa told his interrogators in Beirut that he crossed to Lebanon illegally after Assad’s fall but denied all accusations. The officials added that since Issa was detained on Friday, which is the weekend in Syria, Lebanese judicial authorities will wait for Syrian authorities to send his charge sheet on Monday.

The officials said Lebanese authorities will study the case and decide on whether they will hand over Issa to Syrian authorities next week.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said after commanding the Syrian army’s 17th Division, Issa was moved in 2015 to command ground forces in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq and that he retired in late 2016.

Syria’s conflict, which began with anti-Government protests in March 2011 before turning into a civil war, left half a million people dead and over 1 million wounded. Assad and his powerful younger brother, Maher, fled to Russia following the ouster.

Assad’s cousin Atef Najib, who was blamed for atrocities that helped trigger the uprising in Syria 15 years ago, was put on trial in April. The ruling in his case is expected next week.