Barran Press
On December 27, 2024, Syrian state television reported that Lebanese authorities detained the wife and daughter of Dureid Rifaat Assad at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut after discovering they were carrying forged Syrian passports.
Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar noted that the detainees were traveling with Dureid Rifaat Assad, who held a valid Syrian passport. Security sources emphasized that "tampering with Lebanon's security or violating laws will not be tolerated," asserting that security agencies, particularly General Security, will remain vigilant against similar attempts.
The report stated that the Lebanese government received communications from American and European officials urging them to withdraw protection from former regime officials and to arrest them in preparation for their potential extradition to Syrian authorities.
The Lebanese opposition is set to meet with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri to demand accountability for security officials who have provided protection for former regime members, specifically targeting the Lebanese State Security apparatus.
Rifaat Assad, the younger brother of former President Hafez Assad and uncle to Bashar Assad, has been linked to numerous criminal allegations. In March, Swiss prosecutors announced that they had referred the former Syrian vice president for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, accusing him of ordering killings and torture over four decades ago.
The prosecutor's office stated that Rifaat Assad, 86, is accused of ordering atrocities in Syria during February 1982 when he led the Defense Brigades in an assault on Hama amid a conflict between the army and Islamist opposition. Security forces killed thousands to crush the Muslim Brotherhood uprising that year.
Rifaat Assad failed to seize power in 1984 while his brother was hospitalized and subsequently fled to France. After being convicted in France for misusing Syrian state funds and sentenced to four years in prison, he was allowed to return to Syria by his nephew, Bashar Assad, ending his three-decade exile.
He is also associated with money laundering, tax fraud, and embezzlement, with an estimated fortune of $850 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The presence of Syrian officials from the Assad regime has sparked controversy in Lebanon, with calls for the arrest of those subject to arrest warrants.