A woman holding a sign during a sit-in in front of Roumieh prison, demanding the release of Syrian Islamist prisoners detained in Lebanon, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Credit: Screenshot from a report on the Al-Modon website)
New sit-ins, organized by the families of detainees, took place on Wednesday in front of Roumieh prison in the Metn district of Mount Lebanon, as well as at the Joussieh border crossing with Syria, according to Syrian television, to call for the release of Lebanese and Syrian Islamist prisoners.
While a Syrian delegation was expected in Beirut this week to discuss the issue of Syrian detainees in Lebanon — which has returned to the spotlight since the coming to power in Damascus in December 2024 of a rebel coalition led by Islamists — Lebanon's Deputy Prime Minister, Tarek Mitri, stressed in a statement Wednesday morning that "no meeting between Lebanon and Syria has yet been scheduled."
Press reports earlier in the day mentioned a postponement sine die of the visit, but a source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, told L'Orient-Le Jour that the meeting "has not been canceled, but is in principle postponed to Monday," Sept. 1.
A sign of the tension caused by the issue of Syrian detainees in Lebanon, the possibility of potential security incidents at the Lebanese-Syrian border was raised two weeks ago after the death of a detainee in Roumieh and threats from Syrian tribes "to invade Lebanon ... if Syrian detainees are not released."
"2,400 Syrian prisoners, or 30 percent of the total number of detainees, are incarcerated in Lebanon," said Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar in an interview with the channel Al-Hadath, quoted Monday by the National News Agency (NNA).
'The Syrian revolution remains a prisoner in Lebanon'
More generally, protests by the families of Islamist detainees in Lebanon have multiplied in recent months, denouncing the "unjust" imprisonment of their relatives and calling for a "general amnesty," against the backdrop of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. "The Syrian revolution remains a prisoner in Lebanon," proclaimed one sign held by demonstrators in front of Roumieh prison, illustrated with a photo of Lebanese Salafist sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and, in the background, the flag of the Syrian revolution, according to images from the Al-Modon website. A flag bearing the Islamist's likeness was also visible on a truck during the demonstration.
Arrested in 2015 for leading deadly fighting against the Lebanese Army in 2013 in Abra, a suburb of Saida in southern Lebanon, Sheikh Assir was sentenced to death for these actions, and to 20 years of hard labor by a military court for other clashes in northern Lebanon.
"It makes no sense for you to reconcile with [Syrian] President Sharaa and the new administration in Syria while leaving their supporters rotting in prison. Release them immediately!" read another sign.
"There is no medicine, no food ... prisoners are dying in prison: more than 40 in the past two years, due to medical neglect," said a relative of detainees to Al-Modon, calling to "turn the page." Prisons in Lebanon suffer from chronic overcrowding and often deplorable conditions.
"He was two months old when they took his father: Look at how he has become," said another relative of detainees, holding a young teenager in her arms.
According to figures obtained by L'Orient-Le Jour in February from the Interior Ministry, 50 percent of prisoners in Lebanon have still not been tried. Regarding Islamists, 55 percent of them are kept in prison without a verdict. Mohammad Sablouh, a lawyer defending several of them, also said in February that there would be 350 Islamist detainees in total, including 180 Lebanese and 170 Syrians.
Calls for a general amnesty for these prisoners have been made several times. However, such a decision carries the risk of introducing sectarian distribution into the process and allowing the simultaneous release of tens of thousands of people incarcerated for drug offenses or other crimes.
