Lebanon asks Syria to hand over 2 suspects in killing of former Iraqi MP — Al Jazeera
Lebanese law enforcement authorities have asked the Syrian authorities to detain and hand over two Syrian citizens suspected of involvement in the killing of former Iraqi parliament member Ahmed al-Alwani. The politician was found dead in an apartment in Beirut. As Al Jazeera reports, citing an AFP judicial source, preliminary investigation results indicate that al-Alwani was strangled.
Investigation in Beirut
An AFP source in Lebanon's judicial system said that the identities of the two Syrian suspects are still being established. A Lebanese citizen was also detained as part of the investigation and is being questioned. The investigation is being conducted by the Information Branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces under the personal supervision of the country's chief prosecutor, Ahmed Rami al-Hajj.
Investigators are determining the motive for the killing. AFP sources said that the preliminary investigation points to a possible financial motive. The former parliamentarian's body was found on Tuesday evening in an apartment in Beirut's Tariq al-Jdideh district.
Final hours before death
Lieutenant General Saad Maan, head of Iraq's Media Security Cell, said that al-Alwani arrived in Beirut on a Middle East Airlines flight from Erbil on the evening of November 5. He was taken to a hotel, but left less than an hour later, telling reception staff that he was leaving the hotel with friends.
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According to Maan, hotel staff told investigators that the people accompanying al-Alwani spoke with a Syrian accent. Iraq's INA agency reported that the politician left the hotel in a white Range Rover, after which he called relatives in Iraq twice. Contact with him was subsequently lost.
Al-Alwani's political past
Ahmed al-Alwani represented the western province of Anbar in Iraq's parliament and was known for criticizing Iran's influence and Tehran-backed Shiite armed groups in Iraq. In December 2013, he was detained during a forceful raid on his home in Ramadi, in which his brother and several other people were killed. In 2014, the politician was sentenced to death on terrorism charges, and in April 2025 he was released under Iraq's general amnesty law.
Iraqi President Nizar Amedi called for the circumstances of the killing and those involved to be established promptly. Iraq's Embassy in Lebanon said it was awaiting the final report from Lebanese security agencies on the circumstances of the crime.
