Assad officer extradited to Syria on war crimes charges for first time

Lebanon has handed Syria a former general who served under the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad, in the first extradition of its kind since his government fell.

Maj Gen Adel Issa, 67, is accused of a raft of crimes allegedly committed during the Syrian civil war, which ended in December 2024 when rebel forces took the capital, Damascus, and Assad fled.

Issa was detained on 8 August after visiting the Syrian embassy in Beirut to complete paperwork and was transferred into Syrian custody on Wednesday.

The handover follows pressure from Syria’s new authorities on Lebanon to act against former security and military officials who fled across the border after Assad’s fall.

The Syrian interior ministry said Issa led ground forces in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor until 2016.

He is accused of charges including murder as well as “torture leading to death and crimes of aggression with the aim of inciting civil war and sectarian fighting”, it said.

Judicial officials told the BBC that Issa denied the charges during his arrest.

The decision to extradite him 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.

Additional reporting by BBC Arabic’s Joya Berbery in Beirut