An anti-government fighter treads on a statue of late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad that was felled outside the defense ministry's military security headquarters in the Damascus district of Kafr Sousa on Dec. 9, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Interpol has reportedly asked Lebanese authorities to arrest Jamil Hassan, the head of Syrian Air Force Intelligence under the Assad regime, according to local and regional media outlets on Saturday.
Citing a judicial source, Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat reported that Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Jamal al-Hajjar, received a U.S. notice via Interpol requesting Hassan's arrest if he is on Lebanese soil or enters Lebanon, with the intent to hand him over to the United States.
L'Orient Today reached out to the Ministry of Interior and Hajjar, but neither was immediately available for comment.
Asharq al-Awsat added that al-Hajjar instructed all security agencies, particularly General Security, to circulate the notice and arrest Hassan if located in Lebanon.
The telegram accuses Hassan of committing "war crimes and genocide, and holds him directly responsible for dropping thousands of tons of barrel bombs on the Syrian people and killing thousands of innocent civilians."
According to the judicial source cited by Asharq al-Awsat, the notice “has also been circulated to all countries that are part of the Interpol convention, and he should be arrested wherever he is found.”
On Friday, sources within Lebanon’s Ministry of Interior told L'Orient Today that 21 Syrian army officers and soldiers had been arrested in Lebanon after fleeing Syria following the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8.
Additional media reports have suggested that several officials from the former Syrian regime have recently arrived in Beirut, with some reportedly facing international arrest warrants. Among them, Bouthaina Shaaban, a longtime adviser to Bashar al-Assad, was reportedly “smuggled to an unknown destination,” according to these sources.
Lebanon's caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi recently confirmed that the wife and son of Maher al-Assad — the ousted Syrian president’s brother and second-in-command of the regime — were smuggled out of Lebanon through Beirut’s international airport.
The minister also stated that “anyone not wanted by judicial or international authorities is permitted to enter Lebanon through legal crossings and leave freely.”
In response to questions regarding the departure of former Syrian regime members via Beirut’s airport, Mawlawi emphasized that “everyone is searched and the law applies to everyone,” adding that “no one wanted by the law in Lebanon or elsewhere” would bypass security checks.
