Lebanon extradites ex-Syrian general to Damascus for trial

Lebanon has transferred a former senior Syrian military officer to Damascus to face charges including murder and torture, marking the first such handover of a military figure since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Major General Adel Issa, a 67-year-old former commander of the Syrian army's 17th Division, was delivered to Syrian custody on Wednesday, according to a statement from Syria's Interior Ministry.

The transfer followed Lebanon's judicial decision on Tuesday to extradite Issa, who was detained on August 8. He was taken into custody after visiting the Syrian embassy in Beirut to complete paperwork, at which point embassy officials alerted Lebanese prosecutors to an active arrest warrant from Damascus. Lebanese authorities arrested him and held him at Beirut's Palace of Justice detention center while the extradition process was carried out under a 1951 bilateral judicial agreement.

Syria's Interior Ministry stated that Issa was wanted on an arrest warrant accusing him of intentional homicide, facilitating a felony, killing more than two people, torture leading to death, and crimes aimed at inciting civil war and sectarian strife. The ministry...