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Lebanese President, US Ambassador Discuss New Sanctions

Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo
Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo
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Lebanese President, US Ambassador Discuss New Sanctions

Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo
Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has discussed with US Ambassador Dorothy Shea a wave of new tighter US sanctions on Syria, a diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Shea on Thursday handed Aoun a letter that includes the text of the US Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which takes effect later this month, the diplomat said.

Shea stressed to the Lebanese president that the new law is on Syria, saying her country continues to back Lebanon, the source added.

The ministers of foreign affairs, information, economy and justice and their director generals, in addition to Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, met on Thursday to discuss the Caesar Act’s repercussions on Lebanon.

One of the conferees described the meeting as "consultative."

The Caesar Act targets companies dealing with Damascus. The sanctions are expected to worsen the already dire economic situation in Syria.

Syria's economy has been battered by nine years of war compounded by a financial crisis in Lebanon, which had served as a conduit to bring dollars into regime-held areas despite international sanctions.

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Arab World

Relatives of Bashar Assad Arrested as They Tried to Fly Out of Lebanon, Officials Say

A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Relatives of Bashar Assad Arrested as They Tried to Fly Out of Lebanon, Officials Say

A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The wife and daughter of one of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad ’s cousins were arrested Friday at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese judicial and security officials said. Assad’s uncle departed the day before.

Rasha Khazem, the wife of Duraid Assad — the son of former Syrian Vice President Rifaat Assad, the uncle of Bashar Assad — and their daughter, Shams, were smuggled illegally into Lebanon and were trying to fly to Egypt when they were arrested, according to five Lebanese officials familiar with the case.

They were being detained by Lebanese General Security. Rifaat had flown out the day before on his real passport and was not stopped, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Swiss federal prosecutors in March indicted Rifaat on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering murder and torture more than four decades ago.

Rifaat Assad, the brother of Bashar Assad's father Hafez Assad, Syria's former ruler, led the artillery unit that shelled the city of Hama and killed thousands, earning him the nickname the “Butcher of Hama.”

Earlier this year, Rifaat Assad was indicted in Switzerland for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Hama.

Tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon illegally on the night of Assad’s fall earlier this month, when insurgent forces entered Damascus.

The Lebanese security and judicial officials said that more than 20 members of the former Syrian Army’s notorious 4th Division, military intelligence officers and others affiliated with Assad’s security forces were arrested earlier in Lebanon. Some of them were arrested when they attempted to sell their weapons.

Lebanon’s public prosecution office also received an Interpol notice requesting the arrest of Jamil al-Hassan, the former director of Syrian intelligence under Assad. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati previously told Reuters that Lebanon would cooperate with the Interpol request to arrest al-Hassan.