Lebanese judicial and security officials said the country has detained a former Syrian army major general who served under ousted President Bashar al-Assad. The arrest occurred in Beirut on Friday, and authorities are weighing whether to return him to Syria to face charges related to his military service.
According to unnamed sources, Adel Issa, 67, went to Syria's embassy in Beirut on Friday to handle some paperwork. Embassy staff recognized that he was wanted in his home country and alerted Lebanon's public prosecutor's office. Investigators from the Central Criminal Investigation Bureau then detained him and took him to their headquarters at the Beirut Justice Palace.
During questioning, Issa admitted to entering Lebanon illegally after the al-Assad regime collapsed, but denied all charges. As Friday is a weekend day in Syria, Lebanese authorities expect to wait until Monday to receive formal charges from Damascus before deciding on next steps.
Lebanon's public prosecutor has asked Syria to send an extradition file for the suspect before Beirut decides whether to hand him over, a judicial official said. If transferred, it would be the first extradition of a former al-Assad official since his government fell in December 2024, when opposition forces seized Damascus and drove many former officials to flee to Lebanon, some of whom remain there today.
Issa previously commanded Syria's 17th Division before being reassigned in 2015 to lead ground forces in Deir Az Zour province near the Iraqi border, holding that position until retiring in late 2016, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The case comes as Syria faces a sweeping reassessment of the al-Assad era, with dozens of former security officials accused of abuses having been arrested and put on trial. Among them is al-Assad's cousin Atef Najib, whose trial began in April over charges tied to sparking the 2011 uprising, with a verdict expected soon.
Al-Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after his regime collapsed, ending a civil war that killed roughly half a million people and wounded more than a million others.
