Lebanon has decided to extradite a former Syrian army general to Damascus, where he is expected to stand trial over alleged crimes committed under former President Bashar al-Assad. 

What happened: A Lebanese judicial official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Public Prosecutor Ahmad Rami al-Hajj approved the extradition of Maj. Gen. Adel Issa after determining that the legal requirements had been met.

Issa, 67, will be transferred from Lebanon’s General Security to the Lebanon-Syria border, where he will be handed over to a Syrian security committee, according to Lebanese media reports.

The extradition will mark the first time a military officer has been handed over by Lebanon since Assad was ousted by a rebel offensive led by now-President Ahmed al-Sharaa in December 2024. 

Issa once commanded the Syrian army’s 17th Division. In March 2015, he was appointed commander of the Assad government’s ground forces in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian opposition news outlet Enab Baladi. He retired the following year.

Lebanese authorities detained Issa on Aug. 8 after he visited the Syrian Embassy in Beirut. He was arrested pursuant to an in absentia warrant issued by the Syrian judiciary accusing him of murder and crimes against humanity, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Lebanese judicial authorities based the extradition decision on a 1951 judicial cooperation agreement between Lebanon and Syria, NNA reported, saying that he will be transferred from the detention facility at Beirut’s Justice Palace to Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security ahead of his transfer to the border. 

Background: The case comes as Syria’s new authorities seek to hold members of Assad’s former government and security apparatus accountable for alleged crimes committed during the country’s 14-year conflict.

The war killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, while allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and other abuses became widespread.

On Tuesday, a Syrian court sentenced Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of the former president, to death for crimes committed during the country’s civil war.

The presiding judge said Wassim was found guilty of multiple killings, including murders involving torture and extreme brutality, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA.

Just a week earlier, a court issued death sentences against Bashar and his younger brother Maher in absentia.

The two were convicted of premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity stemming from the government’s crackdown during the conflict, according to SANA. They fled to Russia after rebel forces captured Damascus in December 2024. 

The trials are among the most consequential steps taken by Syria’s post-Assad leadership as it seeks to address the legacy of the former government. But the proceedings have also prompted criticism from victims and rights advocates, who have questioned whether the trials are moving too quickly and whether they meet international standards for fair and transparent justice.

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