Illustration: Iva Kovic
BEIRUT — “We have people at the Beirut and Riyadh airports, we pay them, the route is secure,” the recruiter Jassem al-Hamid promised a young Syrian man at a home in Saudi Arabia’s capital.For 30,000 Saudi riyals (approximately $8,000), the 22-year old Ali Hamadeh agreed to a simple task: fly into Beirut, pick up a bag and then bring it back to Saudi Arabia. Hamadeh landed in Beirut on July 14, 2016. It was his first time in Lebanon and he knew nobody in the country, he would later tell military intelligence investigators, according to Lebanese judicial documents in the case reviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour.After arriving, Hamadeh followed his recruiter’s instructions and dialed a number on his phone. The man on the line told him to hail a taxi and hand the phone to the driver. They stopped off nearby in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where a...
BEIRUT — “We have people at the Beirut and Riyadh airports, we pay them, the route is secure,” the recruiter Jassem al-Hamid promised a young Syrian man at a home in Saudi Arabia’s capital.For 30,000 Saudi riyals (approximately $8,000), the 22-year old Ali Hamadeh agreed to a simple task: fly into Beirut, pick up a bag and then bring it back to Saudi Arabia. Hamadeh landed in Beirut on July 14, 2016. It was his first time in Lebanon and he knew nobody in the country, he would later tell military intelligence investigators, according to Lebanese judicial documents in the case reviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour.After arriving, Hamadeh followed his recruiter’s instructions and dialed a number on his phone. The man on the line told him to hail a taxi and hand the phone to the driver. They stopped off nearby in Beirut’s southern...
