Lebanon to hand over Assad-era general to Syria for trial

Lebanese judicial authorities have approved the transfer of a former senior Syrian military officer to Damascus, where he is expected to face trial over alleged crimes committed during Syria's civil war, officials said on Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Adel Issa, who served under ousted President Bashar Assad, becomes the first military officer handed over by Lebanon since Assad's government fell in late 2024. The transfer follows questioning by Lebanese prosecutors over allegations linked to Syria's eastern province of Deir el-Zour and the northern province of Raqqa.

Issa was taken into custody on August 8 after visiting the Syrian embassy in Beirut for paperwork. Embassy officials alerted Lebanon's prosecutor's office that Issa was wanted in Syria, and he has been held at Beirut's Palace of Justice detention center since.

On Tuesday afternoon, members of Lebanon's General Security Directorate began escorting Issa to a border crossing for handover to Syrian authorities, according to judicial and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The handover is based on a 1951 agreement between Lebanon and Syria concerning the transfer of suspected criminals. Issa has denied all charges, saying he was a military officer carrying out orders.

The Syrian embassy in Beirut had sent Issa's charge sheet to Lebanese judicial authorities earlier this month.

Issa reportedly fled to Lebanon illegally after Assad's fall. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, he commanded the Syrian army's 17th Division before being moved in 2015 to lead ground forces in Deir el-Zour, near the Iraqi border. He retired in late 2016.

Dozens of other former members of Assad's security apparatus accused of atrocities have been arrested and tried in Syria. Last week, a Syrian court sentenced Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia, while a maternal cousin became the most senior security official sentenced to death while in custody.

The decision comes days after Lebanon's parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first Arab country to do so, pending publication in the official gazette.

Syria's conflict, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011 and escalated into civil war, has killed half a million people and wounded over one million.