A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad torn in the city of Aleppo, northern Syria, on Nov. 30, 2024. (Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)
BEIRUT — Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation Judge Ahmad Rami al-Hajj received a request from the French judiciary asking Lebanese authorities to arrest three former Syrian intelligence officials believed to be in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Thursday. A judicial source confirmed the information to L'Orient-Le Jour.
According to the judicial source who spoke to L'Orient-Le Jour, the first step will be to "verify the presence" of the wanted officials on Lebanese territory and examine "the legal basis of the request" submitted by France.
The source said the French request seeks the men's extradition to France, not their prosecution in Lebanon.
If the three former officials are found in Lebanon and Syrian authorities also submit an extradition request, Beirut will have to decide which country to hand them over to.
Asked whether Syria would be given priority because the suspects are Syrian nationals, the judicial source noted that "Lebanon has an extradition agreement with Syria, but not with France," while emphasizing that "there is no obligation" to surrender the former officials to Damascus.
In November 2025, Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the Lebanese judiciary had received an official request from France seeking assistance in locating and arresting former Syrian regime officials suspected of being on Lebanese territory. At the time, a senior Lebanese judicial source told the newspaper that the request had been sent to then-Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation Jamal Hajjar.
The request named former Syrian Air Force Intelligence chief Jamil al-Hassan, former National Security Bureau chief Ali Mamlouk and former Air Force Intelligence investigations chief Abdelsalam Mahmoud.
According to the report, French authorities asked Lebanon to determine whether the three men were in the country and, if so, to arrest them to facilitate their extradition to France. Hajjar subsequently instructed the Intelligence Branch of the Internal Security Forces to conduct the necessary investigations.
The request is part of a French investigation targeting ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and several former senior officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including in cases involving the deaths of French nationals.
Lebanon had previously received an Interpol notice requesting that it execute U.S. arrest warrants for Hassan and Mamlouk.
