Israeli Agents Arrested at Beirut Airport

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi (R) and acting General Security chief Elias al-Baysari. (Mawlawi on the X platform)
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi (R) and acting General Security chief Elias al-Baysari. (Mawlawi on the X platform)
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Israeli Agents Arrested at Beirut Airport

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi (R) and acting General Security chief Elias al-Baysari. (Mawlawi on the X platform)
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi (R) and acting General Security chief Elias al-Baysari. (Mawlawi on the X platform)

Lebanon’s acting General Security chief Elias al-Baysari revealed the arrest of two agents working for Israel.

They were detained at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.

They were tasked by Israel with carrying out operations in Lebanon, Baysari added.

Security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the individuals were Russian and that they had received instructions to monitor “sensitive” Hezbollah positions and “attempt to infiltrate them.”

They described the arrest as an “accomplishment by the General Security directorate”.

The concerned judiciary will now carry out the investigations with the Russians.

Baysari had previously declared that there can be “no undermining of security” in Lebanon under any circumstances.

“Maintaining security is a red line and priority for us,” he added during a speech on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the formation of the General Security.

The directorate will “not abandon any effort to safeguard security and combat terrorism and networks affiliated with the Israeli enemy. This is a priority for us,” he declared.



Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)

Two French investigating magistrates have issued an arrest warrant against ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, the second such move by France's judicial authorities, a source said on Tuesday.

Assad, who was ousted late last year in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, is held responsible in the warrant issued on Monday as "commander-in-chief of the armed forces" for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a civilian, a source close to the case, asking not to be named, told AFP.

This mandate was issued as part of an investigation into the case of Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old Franco-Syrian national and former French teacher, who was killed on June 7, 2017 following the bombing of his home by Syrian army helicopters.

The French judiciary considers that Assad ordered and provided the means for this attack, according to the source.

Six senior Syrian army officials are already the target of French arrest warrants over the case in an investigation that began in 2018.

"This case represents the culmination of a long fight for justice, in which I and my family believed from the start," said Omar Abou Nabout, the victim's son, in a statement.

He expressed hope that "a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and judged, wherever they are".

French authorities in November 2023 issued a first arrest warrant against Assad over chemical attacks in 2013 where more than a thousand people, according to American intelligence, were killed by sarin gas.

While considering Assad's participation in these attacks "likely", public prosecutors last year issued an appeal against the warrant on the grounds that Assad should have immunity as a head of state.

However, his ouster has now changed his status and potential immunity. Assad and his family fled to Russia after his fall, according to Russian authorities.