US and Lebanon protecting wanted Syrian general, BBC finds

BySara Obeidat and Josh Baker.

Key points

• After the fall of the Assad regime in early December 2024, Hassan is believed to have initially escaped to Iran.
• We asked the FBI, the CIA and Lebanon's General Directorate of General Security to comment on our findings.
• This person documented to Hassan in Syria and was connected to Tice's detention – now believed to be residing in Lebanon.
• Last month the BBC made public Tice's abduction had been a planned operation, with Hassan in the chain of command.
• As part of a years-long investigation featured in the new BBC podcast: Where is Austin Tice?

Meanwhile, a former Syrian general wanted for crimes against humanity, external is being bankrolled and protected by the US and Lebanese authorities, a BBC News investigation has discovered.

Bassam al-Hassan, who oversaw Syria's chemical weapons programme and was a senior adviser to former President Bashar al-Assad, is being harboured in Lebanon after the Assad regime's collapse in 2024.

In practice, an investigation by the BBC and the US broadcaster NPR has discovered that Hassan has been allowed to remain there under an arrangement involving the FBI, and other US and Lebanese authorities. As well as extra intelligence, we have been informed, this is since of his willingness to provide information concerning the abduction of American journalist Austin Tice in Syria in 2012.

Authorities from two different branches of Syria's new administration have informed the BBC they want Hassan returned to face trial, but that US authorities want him kept in Lebanon, and they say there is little Damascus can do concerning this.

We asked the FBI, the CIA and Lebanon's General Directorate of General Security to comment on our findings. Only the FBI responded, declining to comment and instead directing us to a past statement that remarked its focus remained on establishing the facts around the Tice case and securing his return.

In response to our findings, Phil Elwood, spokesperson for the Tice family remarked: If what you are saying is true, the fact that our tax dollars are being employed to furnish a comfortable life for someone associated with the employ of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians. This person claims to have had Austin Tice executed, is offensive.

"This is nothing less than aiding and abetting the escape of a wanted war criminal. The Syrians deserve justice and he should be returned to stand trial."

As part of a years-long investigation featured in the new BBC podcast: Where is Austin Tice? Series 3 of I'm Not A Monster Presents, the BBC has reviewed a detailed record of a session between Hassan, FBI and CIA representatives, and Lebanese security office-holders, where Tice's case is discussed.

In it, Hassan is offered "residency", "protection" and support securing his "living needs" in return for information, primarily concerning Tice.

Sources with knowledge of the arrangement confirmed this was the case, and described to us how Hassan receives funds from the US authorities through an intermediary, making it harder to trace. Hassan is sanctioned by the US administration.

Yet individuals connected to the Tice investigation say they have seen little evidence it has significantly advanced since Hassan began providing information as part of this agreement. The accord is believed to have been struck in the spring of 2025.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation have expressed reservations that Hassan's arrangement with the US could continue indefinitely, at significant expense but with little gain.

Hassan is not the only Syrian regime official whose connection to the Tice case has seemingly afforded him financial payments or assistance for living abroad.

One former regime member remarked he had received capital from the FBI multiple times in exchange for his co-operation on Tice's case. It was "not in his interest to share all the information all at once, " he informed the BBC, "in order to be able to drag out how long he can continue to receive payments from them ".

Another former regime member connected to the Tice case asserted he was living in Lebanon under the "patronage" of the US authorities, citing this as the reason he could not speak to us concerning Tice.

Meanwhile, the BBC spoke to a former senior Lebanese intelligence official who confirmed that Lebanese intelligence does have arrangements with the Americans, and that these types of payments have and do take place when both agencies have overlap in cases, but remarked he had no knowledge of payments involving the Tice case.

Notably, a Syrian businessman, with solid connections to both the former regime and the Lebanese authorities, informed the BBC that negotiations had then taken place – involving the US, Lebanon, and Iran – to bring Hassan to Lebanon.

For context, the businessman, who asked to remain anonymous, remarked Hassan was valuable, not only as of what he is believed to know regarding Tice, but as of his knowledge of Syria's chemical weapons programme and its military relationship with Iran – secrets that US intelligence was allegedly interested in.

Hassan informed US investigators last year that Tice had been executed on former President Assad's orders, but a number of individuals with knowledge of the investigation have questioned the details of his account. Hassan has provided a potential location for Tice's remains, but when the site was searched, nothing was discovered – according to multiple sources familiar with the dig – casting doubt on the validity of some of Hassan's information.

There are questions, nevertheless, over how thoroughly the site was searched. Two sources who remarked they had intimate knowledge of the operation informed the BBC that US authorities halted digging before the search had been completed, possibly as of security reservations.

When the BBC managed to reach Hassan by phone last year to ask for an interview, he directed us to seek permission for him to speak from the FBI and CIA at the US embassy in Beirut.

Our investigation has discovered that other Syrian office-holders connected to the Tice case have additionally apparently identified refuge abroad.

They include Mohammad Makhlouf. This person documented to Hassan in Syria and was connected to Tice's detention – now believed to be residing in Lebanon. And Sakr Rustom, Hassan's nephew who was involved in Tice's abduction, now believed to be moving between the UAE and Lebanon. When the BBC attempted to speak to Rustom regarding Tice's case, he stated he "preferred to focus on matters of the future".

Ghassan Nassour, a former general in Syria's Republican Guard, is remarked by former members of the National Defence Forces to have presided over the jail Tice was held in, and is believed to be living in the UAE with his family, we have been informed.

Taken together, the developments around US and Lebanon protecting wanted Syrian general, BBC finds point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.