Internal Security Forces officers in front of the Beirut courthouse. (Credit: Hassan Ammar/AFP/Illustrative photo)
BEIRUT — Twenty-one Syrian army officers and soldiers were arrested in Lebanon after fleeing Syria following the fall of the Syrian regime on Dec. 8, sources within Lebanon's Interior Ministry told L'Orient Today on Friday.
According to these sources, the intelligence unit of the Lebanese Army handed the arrested men over to the General Security, which is currently conducting the investigation.
Citing judicial sources, the local newspaper al-Modon reported earlier on Friday that dozens of officers fled from Syria to Lebanon in their military uniforms and with their weapons. The report added that Lebanese security services immediately took action, apprehending the officers while they were "selling their weapons for as little as 20 to 30 U.S. dollars."
Citing security sources, al-Modon also reported that General Security intends to deport those arrested back to Syria. However, they refuse to return for fear of being arrested by the rebels.
On Dec. 8, Syrian rebels led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham ousted the Syrian regime following a swift offensive that started on Nov. 27. When the rebels reached Damascus, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad escaped to Moscow with Russia, a critical ally of the regime, granting him asylum there.
On Wednesday, Lebanon's caretaker Interior Minister, Bassam Mawlawi, said that the wife and son of Maher al-Assad — the brother of Syria's ousted president and second-in-command of the regime — were smuggled out of Lebanon through Beirut's international airport.
Additional media reports have mentioned the arrival of several officials from the former Syrian regime in Beirut, some of whom are reportedly the subject of international arrest warrants. Among them, Bouthaina Shaaban, a longtime adviser to Bashar al-Assad, is said to have been “smuggled to an unknown destination,” according to the sources.