Beirut asks Damascus for information on Habib Chartouni

BEIRUT — Lebanese Justice Minister Adel Nassar said Friday evening on the al-Jadeed channel that he had asked Damascus to disclose the whereabouts of Habib Chartouni, who is accused of assassinating former Lebanese President Bachir Gemayel.

He stated that "the Syrian side confirmed that it has begun reviewing the information contained in all assassination cases."

These requests were made during a visit by a Syrian delegation to Beirut on Wednesday, which notably addressed the issue of Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons — a matter that has returned to the forefront since the rebel coalition led by Ahmad al-Sharaa came to power in Damascus in December 2024.

Gemayel, founder of the Lebanese Forces militia, then the armed wing of the Kataeb party, was killed in September 1982 in a bombing that took place one floor above a party office in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut, three weeks after he was elected president.

The attack also claimed the lives of 32 other people. In 2017, the Court of Justice sentenced two individuals to death — Habib Chartouni and Nabil Alam, both members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) — in absentia for his assassination.