Syrian authorities have asked Lebanese security forces to hand over more than 200 senior officers who fled to Lebanon after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, following a Reuters investigation that showed how the neighbouring country was a hub for insurgent plotting.
On December 18th, a top Syrian security official, Brig Abdul Rahman al-Dabbagh, met Lebanese counterparts in Beirut to discuss the exiled Assad-era officers, according to three senior Syrian sources, two Lebanese security officials and a diplomat with knowledge of the visit.
The meetings came days after a Reuters investigation detailed rival plots being pursued by Rami Makhlouf, the billionaire cousin of the ousted president, and Maj Gen Kamal Hassan, former head of military intelligence, both living in exile in Moscow, to finance potential Alawite militant groups in Lebanon and along the Syrian coast. Syria and Lebanon share a 375km border.
The two rival camps aim to undermine the new Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
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The investigation found they are sending money to intermediaries in Lebanon to try to stir uprisings that would divide Syria and allow the plotters to regain control over the coastal areas.
The population of those areas is dominated by Alawites, the minority sect associated with the Assad family and the dictatorship’s ruling elite.
Brig Al-Dabbagh, an aide to the head of internal security in Syria’s Latakia province, an Alawite stronghold, met Lebanese intelligence chief Tony Kahwaji and Maj Gen Hassan Choucair, head of the general security directorate, and presented them with the list of senior officers wanted by Syria.
The visit focused on gathering information about the whereabouts and legal status of the officers, as well as trying to find ways to prosecute or extradite them to Syria, according to the Syrian sources.
They described it as a direct request from one security agency to another, rather than a demand for extradition.
Three senior Lebanese security officials confirmed the meetings. One of the Lebanese officials denied receiving any demands from the Syrians to hand over the officers. Two others acknowledged receiving a list of names but said none was a senior officer.
One of the Lebanese security officials said there was no evidence of any insurgency being planned, despite the threats against Syria’s new government detailed in the Reuters reporting.
All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of a highly sensitive cross-border issue.
Among the names handed over by Syrian officials to Lebanon were several high-ranking figures acting as intermediaries for Mr Makhlouf or Maj Gen Hassan in Lebanon, according to a Syrian source who saw the list.
A Lebanese judicial official said Syria had not made a formal extradition request to Lebanon, typically done through the two countries’ justice and foreign ministries.
Accompanying Brig Dabbagh on his Beirut visit was Khaled al-Ahmad, a former Assad adviser and childhood friend of Mr Sharaa, who is leading the government’s efforts to win over the Alawite community through development projects and aid, according to two witnesses who saw the men together on that mid-December day.
In a January 2nd post on X, Lebanese deputy prime minister Tarek Mitri called on his government’s security agencies to verify the information circulating in the media and take action against the Lebanon-based agents for Assad’s former insiders, Makhlouf and Hassan. – Reuters
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