BEIRUT (AP) 鈥� judicial authorities have decided to hand over a former senior Syrian military officer under ousted President to Damascus after questioning him over crimes he during the country鈥檚 conflict, officials said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Adel Issa will be the first military officer to be handed over by Lebanon since Assad鈥檚 fall in late 2024. He is expected to stand trial in his home country. There were no immediate details on the alleged crimes.
The decision comes days after a vote in parliament that made Lebanon the first Arab country to , a step that will become formal once it is published in the Lebanese Official Gazette.
The judicial officials said Issa is being handed over to Syria in accordance with a 1951 agreement between the countries that calls for handing over suspected criminals.
On Tuesday afternoon, Issa was taken by members of 尝别产补苍辞苍鈥檚 General Security Directorate, who will drive him to a border crossing and hand him over to Syrian authorities, two judicial and two security officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
After Syrian fighters opposed to Assad marched into Damascus to end the Assad family’s five-decade rule in December 2024, a number of military and security officers fled to Lebanon, where some remain.
Dozens of other former members of his security agencies accused of atrocities have been arrested and put on trial in Syria.
Last week, a Syrian Assad and his younger brother Maher to death in absentia while their maternal cousin, Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, became the most senior security official to be sentenced to death while in custody. The Assad brothers fled to Russia during the ouster.
Issa was questioned last week by judge Ahmad Rami Hajj, 尝别产补苍辞苍鈥檚 public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, over alleged crimes he had committed in Syria鈥檚 eastern province of Deir el-Zour and the northern province of Raqqa during Syria鈥檚 conflict that broke out in 2011.
The judicial officials told The Associated Press that Issa denied all the charges against him, saying he was a military officer carrying out orders.
The Syrian embassy in Beirut sent Issa鈥檚 charge sheet to Lebanese judicial authorities earlier this month, the officials said.
on Aug. 8 when he went to the Syrian embassy in Beirut for some paperwork. Embassy officials contacted 尝别产补苍辞苍鈥檚 prosecutor鈥檚 office to tell them that Issa is wanted in Syria. He has been held at Beirut鈥檚 Palace of Justice detention center.
Issa had fled to Lebanon by crossing illegally after Assad鈥檚 fall, the officials said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said after commanding the Syrian army鈥檚 17th Division, Issa was moved in 2015 to command ground forces in Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq, and that he retired in late 2016.
Syria鈥檚 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.
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