
The wife and daughter of Duraid Al-Assad, a cousin of Syria’s deposed President Bashar Al-Assad, were arrested Friday at Beirut's airport while attempting to leave the country using allegedly forged passports, The Associated Press reported, citing Lebanese judicial and security officials.
Meanwhile, Duraid’s father, Rifaat Al-Assad, had left Lebanon a day earlier using his legitimate passport without being stopped.
Rasha Khazem, wife of Duraid Al-Assad, and their daughter, Shams, reportedly entered Lebanon illegally before their attempted flight to Egypt, said five Lebanese officials familiar with the situation. Both women are currently detained by Lebanese General Security.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also noted that Rifaat Al-Assad had successfully exited Lebanon without incident.
Rifaat, the uncle of Bashar Al-Assad and brother of the late Syrian ruler Hafez Al-Assad, is a controversial figure with a long history of alleged human rights violations.
Swiss federal prosecutors indicted Rifaat in March for war crimes and crimes against humanity, accusing him of ordering widespread murder and torture over four decades ago. Known as the “Butcher of Hama,” Rifaat is infamous for leading the military operation that shelled the city of Hama in 1982, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.
In 2015, Rifaat was charged in France with embezzlement and money-laundering over suspicions that he used ill-gotten gains to build a real estate empire in France.
The arrest of Rasha Khazem and Shams Assad comes amid broader security efforts in Lebanon to address individuals linked to the Assad regime. Tens of thousands of Syrians reportedly entered Lebanon illegally earlier this month when rebels took control of Damascus following Assad’s downfall.
Lebanese security forces have since detained over 20 individuals associated with the former Syrian Army’s notorious 4th Division and Assad's intelligence apparatus, accoridngt to AP. Some were arrested for attempting to sell weapons, while others face legal actions stemming from their regime affiliations.