Lebanese Army Detains Suleiman al-Assad and Son of Nuh Zaiter in the Bekaa

Damascus requests the extradition of Bashar Assad’s cousin’s son on charges of murder and drug trafficking

The Lebanese Army arrested three people in the Bekaa region in the east of the country, including Sulaiman Hilal al-Assad, the son of the cousin of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Ali Zaitar, the son of Nuh Zaitar, in a case involving drugs and weapons.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a security source as saying the army arrested the three on Friday while they were consuming drugs, clarifying that Sulaiman al-Assad is a civilian and not a former officer, and that the detainees were transferred to the headquarters of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense for interrogation.

For its part, the Associated Press reported that the Lebanese Army announced the arrest of three people near Baalbek, including a Syrian who did not possess documents proving his legal residency in Lebanon, and that weapons and a quantity of hashish were seized from them. The agency noted that the army had not officially announced the names of the detainees, although the initials provided matched those of Sulaiman al-Assad and Ali Zaitar.

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Sulaiman is the son of Hilal al-Assad, the cousin of Bashar Assad, who led the "National Defense Forces" in Latakia before his death in battles in the countryside of the governorate in 2014.

In this context, sources for "Al Arabiya/Al Hadath" reported that Damascus requested the Lebanese authorities to hand over Sulaiman al-Assad, following allegations of his involvement in murder crimes within Syria and drug trafficking from Syrian territory.

Following the announcement of his arrest, social media users revived cases associated with Sulaiman al-Assad’s name during the previous regime’s era, foremost among them being the case of the murder of former Air Force Colonel Hassan al-Sheikh in Latakia in 2015 following a traffic dispute.

According to AFP reports at the time, a court in Latakia issued a sentence in January 2016 sentencing Sulaiman al-Assad to 20 years in prison for the murder of al-Sheikh, after authorities detained him following the incident, which sparked protests and demands for accountability.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had stated at the time of the incident that Sulaiman al-Assad shot Hassan al-Sheikh following a dispute over right-of-way, and that the crime occurred in front of members of his family.

Subsequent reports indicated that Sulaiman al-Assad was released from prison before completing his sentence, years after his detention, before disappearing from public view.

His arrest comes at a time when Damascus and Beirut are seeking to open a new chapter in relations between the two countries and enhance security and judicial cooperation, including pursuing and extraditing figures linked to Bashar Assad’s regime who fled to Lebanon following its fall in late 2024.

Earlier this month, Lebanese authorities arrested a network of five people, including Syrians and a former Syrian intelligence officer, on suspicion of planning attacks on government forces in the Syrian coastal region, according to a Lebanese judicial source.

Also last month, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced the receipt of a former officer who served during the Assad era from Lebanese authorities, after his arrest based on an in absentia warrant issued against him on charges of murder and crimes against humanity.

Last August, Lebanese authorities handed over former Major General Adil Issa to Syria, while Damascus continues to demand the pursuit and extradition of wanted individuals accused of committing crimes during the years of war.

In June last year, Syrian authorities announced the arrest of Wasim al-Assad, the cousin of Bashar Assad, in the Talkalakh area near the Syrian-Lebanese border.