A former Syrian general facing U.S.sanctions and wanted internationally for crimes against humanity is living quietly in Lebanon, bankrolled and protected by American and Lebanese authorities, a joint BBC and NPR investigation has found.Bassam al-Hassan, who oversaw Syria's chemical weapons program and was a senior advisor to former President Bashar al-Assad, moved to Beirut after fleeing Syria following the Assad regime's collapse in 2024.An investigation by the BBC and NPR has found that Hassan has been allowed to remain there under an arrangement involving the FBI and other U.S.
and Lebanese authorities.This is at least partly because of his willingness to provide information about the abduction of American journalist Austin Tice in Syria in 2012, as well as additional intelligence, according to four sources familiar with the arrangement who asked to remain anonymous because of threats to their livelihood and safety.As part of a years-long investigation featured in the new NPR's Embedded and BBC series called Where is Austin Tice? the BBC has reviewed a detailed record of a meeting between Hassan, representatives of the FBI and CIA, and Lebanese security officials, where Tice's case is discussed.In it, Hassan is offered "residency," "protection," and help securing his "living needs."Sources with knowledge of the arrangement described how Hassan receives money through an intermediary, making it harder to trace.Officials from two different branches of Syria's new government, who requested anonymity because they are unauthorized to speak to the press about this case, have told NPR and the BBC they want Hassan returned to Syria to face trial but that U.S.authorities want him kept in Beirut, and they say there is little Damascus can do about this.When reporters for the BBC reached Hassan by phone last year to ask for an interview, he directed them to seek permission for him to speak from "the FBI and CIA officials at the [U.S.] embassy."Asked for comment, officials ...