The Lebanese drug trafficker Nouh Zeaiter. (Credit: Photo circulating on social media)
BEIRUT — The government commissioner at the military tribunal, Claude Ghanem, ordered Monday the extension of the provisional detention of a distant cousin of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Sleiman al-Assad, and the son of Lebanese drug kingpin Nouh Zeaiter.
The two men, along with a third person, were arrested Friday by the army in the Bekaa Valley, in possession of weapons and drugs.
Based on interrogations and the preliminary investigation conducted by the army's intelligence services, Judge Ghanem requested that their files be transmitted to him. The files are expected to reach him shortly, and he could then initiate proceedings against the two defendants. We learned that the files note possession of weapons, with no trafficking charges at this stage. In addition, Sleiman al-Assad is accused of being in Lebanon illegally. Regarding the drug-related accusations, the judge is expected to refer it to the public prosecutor at the Court of Appeal, who has jurisdiction in the matter.
Meanwhile, a judicial source told us that Judge Ghanem is expected to receive the file related to the network dismantled earlier this month on Wednesday. The accusation in this file allegedly involve planning attacks on the Syrian coast. The network reportedly transported people and weapons across the Lebanese-Syrian border for use in a military training camp. It is said to be run from Russia by a former officer of the previous Syrian regime, while a Hezbollah official allegedly oversaw the training camp. In this case, five people have been arrested, including a colonel from the former Syrian regime's intelligence services, and two brothers, a State Security agent — who was previously in charge of an MP's protection — and a former Internal Security Forces agent dismissed several years ago.