The Attorney General of Lebanon, Rami al Haj, has authorized this Tuesday the delivery of the former Syrian general Adel Issa to the authorities of Syria, where he will be prosecuted for various crimes, including murder, torture, and incitement to sectarian clashes committed during the presidency of Bashar al Assad.
The magistrate has given his approval for the extradition based on the judicial agreement signed between Lebanon and Syria in 1951, after a formal request from Damascus and after Lebanese Justice confirmed that all legal requirements for his transfer to Syrian territory are met.
According to information released by the news agency NNA, the Central Criminal Investigation Department will transfer Issa from the detention center of the Palace of Justice in Beirut to the General Directorate of Public Security, before his delivery to a Syrian security committee located on the Syrian side of the border.
Issa, former commander of the 17th Brigade of the Syrian Army, was arrested in early August and was legally residing in Lebanon with a residence permit issued by the General Directorate of General Security, after fleeing Syria following the fall of the Al Assad regime, according to the newspaper "L'Orient-Le Jour".
"Uasim al Asad," cousin of the ousted Syrian president, has been sentenced to death this Tuesday by a court in Damascus, the capital of Syria, for several crimes committed during the family regime, including crimes against humanity.
His case, the first directed against a relative of Al Assad since the collapse of the former regime, is part of the transitional justice processes opened after Al Assad's departure from power, who fled to Russia in early December 2024 after an offensive by jihadists and rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), whose leader, Ahmed al Shara, is now the president of the country.