Lebanon has handed former Syrian Major-General Adel Issa to Damascus to face charges including murder, torture and crimes linked to inciting civil war and sectarian strife, Syria’s Ministry of Interior said on Wednesday.
The transfer is the first involving a Syrian military officer since former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in 2024. Issa, 67, has denied the accusations, according to two people familiar with his arrest and transfer cited by Reuters.
What Syria alleges against Adel Issa
Issa was a former commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division and later led ground forces in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zur. Syria’s Interior Ministry said a Syrian arrest warrant accused him of intentional homicide, facilitating a felony, killing more than two people, torture leading to death, and crimes intended to provoke civil war and sectarian conflict.
A Damascus referral judge will hear the case before deciding whether it should be sent to a criminal court for trial, the ministry said. The handover places Issa in Syrian custody while that judicial process begins.
How the transfer happened
Issa was detained in Lebanon on August 8 after he went to the Syrian embassy in Beirut to complete paperwork. Embassy officials notified Lebanon’s prosecutor’s office that he was wanted in Syria, after which Lebanese investigators took him into custody.
The transfer followed months of pressure from Damascus for Lebanon to act against former government officers, security officials and military personnel who sought refuge there after the Assad government collapsed in December 2024.
Why the case matters
In January, Syrian authorities gave Lebanese security officials a list of more than 200 former senior officers wanted by Damascus. Issa’s handover is the first reported transfer from Lebanon involving a Syrian military officer since the fall of Assad’s government.
Earlier in August, a Damascus court sentenced Assad to death in absentia on charges including murder, arbitrary detention and torture. Assad lives in exile in Moscow, while President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel leader, has led Syria since the government change.
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