Photo of Pascal Sleiman on the church of Mayfouk, in the Jbeil region, during his funeral, on April 12, 2024. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today.)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army announced Monday that one of the individuals arrested on August 14, 2025, was found to be linked to the April 2024 kidnapping and assassination of Pascal Sleiman, a Lebanese Forces official in Jbeil, who was reportedly killed by a gang of Syrian nationals.
Identified by the army by the initials J.B., he is, according to the military institution’s statement, “one of the most dangerous fugitives for having committed various crimes.”
The crimes the man is suspected of committing are: “Forming a network specialized in stealing cars and smuggling them into Syrian territory, setting up a gang dedicated to kidnapping Lebanese and foreigners for ransom and drug trafficking, distributing counterfeit money and forging documents for the benefit of his network members.”
In May 2025, the Lebanese Army had announced that Damascus had handed over one of the main suspects in the assassination of Sleiman.
Sleiman had been abducted on April 7, 2024, in the locality of Kharbeh by armed individuals at the time of the alleged theft of his car. His body was found in Syria the next day and Syrian suspects were subsequently arrested in Lebanon.
The announcement of Sleiman’s disappearance initially raised fears of tensions between the Lebanese Forces (LF) and their political opponents, mainly Hezbollah, amid other suspicious cases targeting LF officials, notably the death of a party official in Ain Ebel, South Lebanon.
The LF had directly pointed to Hezbollah, who denied any involvement. Later, information leaked from the investigation about the involvement of a Syrian gang provoked several attacks against Syrian refugees and migrants and led the party of Samir Geagea to adopt an even firmer stance regarding their presence and according to him, the necessity of repatriating them to Syria.
Rubio condemns Iran's 'outrageous' attacks on Kuwait
