DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities on Thursday received former Maj. Gen. Adel Issa from Lebanon after his extradition to face charges including premeditated murder and torture, state news agency SANA reported.
His handover marked the first extradition of a former Syrian military officer from Lebanon since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said the transfer was carried out at the request of the Syrian prosecutor general after an investigating judge issued an arrest warrant for Issa in absentia.
Issa, a former commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division and later ground forces in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, faces charges of premeditated murder, killing more than two people and torture resulting in death, as well as acts allegedly intended to incite civil war and sectarian violence, according to SANA.
He was handed over to Syrian authorities a day after Lebanon’s judiciary approved his extradition to Damascus.
Lebanese authorities detained him earlier this month under a Syrian warrant. On Tuesday, Lebanon’s top prosecutor approved his extradition after judicial authorities determined that the legal requirements had been met under a 1951 bilateral judicial agreement between Lebanon and Syria.
Since Assad’s fall in December 2024, Syrian authorities have arrested dozens of people they say committed crimes during the country’s 13-year civil war, and trials began in April.
Several former officials fled to neighboring Lebanon following the collapse of Assad’s government, creating a new test for judicial and security cooperation between Beirut and Damascus as the two countries seek to rebuild relations.
Last week, Syria sentenced Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher in absentia to death for atrocities committed during the conflict, in the first such ruling under the new authorities.
