After Iraq ex-MP’s killing, Lebanon asks Syria to extradite suspects

Lebanese authorities have asked Syria to hand over two Syrians suspected of involvement in the killing of former Iraqi MP Ahmed al-Alwani, who was found dead in an apartment in Beirut earlier this week.

A Lebanese judicial source told the AFP news agency that preliminary findings indicate al-Alwani was strangled to death, but the perpetrators and motives remain murky.

Hailing from Ramadi in Iraq’s Sunni heartland, al-Alwani was a vocal critic of Iranian influence over Baghdad and had served more than a decade in prison after an initial death sentence on “terrorism” charges in his home country.

Investigators at the Lebanese Public Prosecutor’s office had asked Damascus to arrest and hand over two Syrian nationals, the source added, who are suspected of involvement in al-Alwani’s killing.

The source said the identities of the two suspects are yet to be determined, and that a Lebanese national had been arrested and is being interrogated.

In a separate case, the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces is investigating five Hezbollah members who were arrested in the Batroun highlands in northern Lebanon, according to the public prosecutor’s media office.

The official National News Agency said Lebanon’s top prosecutor, Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj, is personally overseeing the investigation into al-Alwani’s killing, which is being carried out by the Information Branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces.

Investigators are still trying to ascertain the possible motives behind the killing, but the initial inquiry reveals a financial angle, sources told AFP.

Al-Alwani’s body was found on Tuesday evening in an apartment in the Tariq al-Jdideh neighbourhood of Beirut, according to Lebanese media.

Al-Alwani had arrived in Beirut from Erbil airport on a Middle East Airlines flight on the evening of November 5 and was driven to a hotel, according to the head of the Iraqi Security Media Cell, Lieutenant General Saad Maan, who is following the investigation in Lebanon.

Maan told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that al-Alwani left the hotel less than an hour after checking into his room, telling staff at the reception that he was leaving with friends.

The hotel staff told investigators that the people who were accompanying al-Alwani were speaking with a Syrian accent, according to Maan.

INA reported that al-Alwani left the hotel in a white Range Rover vehicle, after which he made two calls to relatives back in Iraq before contact with him was lost.

Iraq’s President Nizar Amedi has called for a swift investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the killing and identify the perpetrators, after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Turkiye on Wednesday.

Al-Alwani, a Sunni politician, formerly represented the western province of Anbar in Iraq’s parliament. He rose to prominence during the protests of 2012 and 2013 against the Shia-led government of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom critics accused of sectarian policies marginalising Sunnis.

He was also a vocal critic of Iran’s influence in Iraq and of Iranian-backed Shia armed groups in the country.

Al-Alwani was arrested in December 2013 during a security raid on his home in Ramadi, during which his brother and several others were killed.

He was sentenced to death in 2014 on “terrorism” charges, but released in April 2025 under Iraq’s General Amnesty Law after more than a decade in prison.

Iraq’s Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Reda al-Husseini said on Tuesday that the Iraqi embassy was following the case closely.

He said the embassy is awaiting the final report from the Lebanese security agencies to “disclose the circumstances of the crime”.