In brief
Lebanon extradited former general Adel Issa to Syria for alleged war crimes, a historic first after the collapse of Bashar al‑Assad’s regime. The 67‑year‑old former army chief has been accused of homicide, torture and other serious offenses during the Syrian civil war. He was detained in Beirut after completing paperwork at the Syrian embassy and handed over to Syrian custody following pressure from the new Syrian government. The extradition follows an agreement dating back to 1951 and will be reviewed by a Damascus referral judge.
Lebanon has handed a former general who served under the ousted Assad regime to Damascus, marking the first extradition of its kind since the regime fell.
Maj. Gen. Adel Issa, 67, faces a raft of war‑crime accusations that allegedly occurred during the Syrian civil war, which ended in December 2024 when rebel forces seized the capital and forced Bashar al‑Assad to flee.
Issa was detained on 8 August after visiting the Syrian embassy in Beirut to complete paperwork and was transferred to Syrian custody on Wednesday, a move that followed pressure from Syria’s new authorities on Lebanon to act against former security and military officials who fled after the regime’s collapse.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said Issa led ground forces in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor until 2016. He is accused of intentional homicide, facilitating felony, killing more than two people, torture leading to death and crimes of aggression aimed at inciting civil war and sectarian fighting.
Judicial officials told the BBC that Issa denied the charges during his arrest.
The extradition decision was made under an agreement between the two countries dating back to 1951. Issa’s case will now go before a referral judge in Damascus, who will decide whether it should proceed to a criminal court.
In January, Syria gave Lebanese officials a list of more than 200 former senior officers it wants prosecuted. Since taking power, authorities led by President Ahmed al‑Sharaa have pursued cases against dozens of former officials.
Earlier this month, a Damascus court sentenced Assad and his brother, Maher, to death in absentia over abuses committed during the civil war. They fled to Moscow when Sharaa’s forces seized power. Their cousins, Waseem al‑Assad and Atif Najib, have been arrested in Syria and also sentenced to death.
