France Requests Lebanon to Arrest Three Former Syrian Officers on “War Crimes” Charges

The French judiciary has formally requested the Lebanese authorities on Tuesday to arrest three senior former Syrian regime officers suspected of involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity, believed to have resulted in the deaths of French citizens during the Syrian conflict.

According to the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, citing a Lebanese judicial source, Public Prosecutor Jamal al-Hajjar received an official cable from French judicial authorities containing a rogatory commission requesting the pursuit and arrest of:

Major General Jamil Hassan, former head of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate,

Major General Ali Mamlouk, head of the National Security Bureau,

Major General Abdel Salam Mahmoud, head of the Investigations Branch in the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

The source explained that the French request includes conducting the necessary investigations to determine their whereabouts in the event they are present on Lebanese territory, in preparation for their arrest and handover to the competent French judiciary.

The source added that the judicial request also contained Lebanese phone numbers believed to be in regular contact with the three officers, based on the results of communications surveillance carried out by French authorities as part of their ongoing pursuit of former Syrian security officials.

This development comes within the framework of broad investigations conducted by the French judiciary for several years into violations and crimes committed in Syria between 2011 and 2013, targeting Syrian opposition figures who hold French citizenship or dual nationality.