BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities were investigating how a former Syrian militia commander suspected of committing crimes during the government of ousted President Bashar Assad was abducted in Lebanon and taken to Syria , judicial and security officials said Friday.
Assad was ousted from power when gunmen opposed to him marched to Damascus in December 2024, ending the five-decade rule of the Assad family .
Dozens of officials have been put on trial in Syria since Assad’s fall over suspected crimes they allegedly committed during Syria’s conflict that left 500,000 people dead. Authorities asked army intelligence and police intelligence units to analyze telecommunication calls to determine whether Kayali was taken to the Syrian Embassy outside of Beirut or straight to Syria after he was picked up in the Lebanese mountain town of Mansouriyeh where he had been living. Assad’s cousin and senior security official Atef Najib was sentenced to death in August. Assad was sentenced in absentia.
Because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media about the case, which was still under investigation, the three judicial and two security officials spoke on condition of anonymity,.
Lebanese judicial officials said that the country’s public prosecution had opened an investigation into the case.
