BEIRUT (AP) — 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 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 neighboring Lebanon, where some still remain. If Maj. Gen. 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 center, said the officials.The four judicial and two security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the matter.
