Lebanon arrests Syrian officer accused of past crimes
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Lebanese authorities arrested on Saturday Maj. Gen. Adel Issa, former commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division, after he arrived at the Syrian Embassy in Beirut to complete an administrative procedure.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the arrest was made over serious allegations against Issa related to “murder, torture, and crimes against humanity” allegedly committed in recent years.
A senior Lebanese judicial source said Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation Judge Ahmed Rami al-Haj ordered Issa’s detention pending investigation.
The judge sent a patrol from the Central Criminal Investigations Department to the Syrian Embassy, where officers took custody of Issa and transferred him to the detention facility at Beirut’s Palace of Justice. An investigation then began into his legal status and the allegations against him, the source said.
The judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Haj had “sent a letter to the Syrian prosecutor general, requesting that he submit Issa’s judicial file to review the allegations against him and the available evidence, in preparation for taking the appropriate decision on whether to hand him over to the Syrian authorities, in accordance with legal procedures.”