Arabic version: لبنان يعتقل اللواء السوري السابق عادل عيسى

According to Al Jazeera, Lebanese authorities have arrested Major-General Adel Issa, a former Syrian army general who served under ousted President Bashar al-Assad, and are considering whether to hand him to Syria. Judicial and security officials said Issa was taken into custody in Beirut on Friday.

Officials speaking anonymously to AFP and the Associated Press said Issa had gone to the Syrian embassy in Beirut for paperwork. Embassy staff determined that he was wanted in Syria and alerted Lebanon’s prosecutor’s office, prompting investigators from the Central Criminal Investigation Department to detain him.

Issa was taken to a facility at the Beirut Palace of Justice. Under questioning, he acknowledged entering Lebanon illegally after al-Assad’s government fell, but reportedly denied wrongdoing. Lebanon’s public prosecutor has asked his Syrian counterpart to send an extradition file before Beirut decides whether to transfer him.

Authorities are expected to wait until Monday for formal charges from Damascus because Friday falls on the weekend in Syria. If Issa is transferred, it would be the first such handover since al-Assad’s government collapsed in December 2024, when opposition fighters seized Damascus and former officials fled, including to Lebanon.

Issa, 67, commanded Syria’s 17th Division before he was moved in 2015 to lead ground forces in Deir Az Zour province near the Iraqi border, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He held that role until retiring in late 2016. His detention comes as Syria pursues cases against former security officials accused of abuses during the al-Assad era.