The Lebanese investigation into the murder of former Iraqi MP Ahmed Al-Alwani inside a residential apartment in Beirut has made tangible progress, represented by identifying two Syrian people suspected of carrying out the crime. The discriminatory public prosecutor, Judge Ahmed Rami Al-Hajj, asked the Syrian authorities to arrest them and hand them over to the Lebanese judiciary, after data showed that they left Lebanon for Syria a few hours after the crime was carried out. However, this progress has not yet revealed the motives for the killing.
The National Security Office in the Information Division of the Internal Security Forces continues its preliminary investigation into the crime. A judicial source revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the security services “were able to determine the full identity of the two Syrian people who appeared in surveillance camera recordings at the entrance to the building and the entrance to the apartment in which Al-Alwani was killed,” noting that the Lebanese authorities “asked their Syrian counterparts to arrest them and hand them over to the Lebanese judiciary.” He explained that the causes of the crime “have not yet been known or determined, but the arrest and investigation of the two suspects constitutes an essential step to uncover its circumstances and determine its background, as the motives for the murder remain unresolved.”
The Lebanese person detained pending investigation is still being interrogated, but the judicial source pointed out that “the responsibility of this detainee is limited, and he was not aware of the plan prepared for the crime and was not aware of its implementation. He is the driver of the car who transported Alwani from the airport to the apartment with the two Syrian people, and he also brought them items and food before the crime occurred.” He pointed out that the data available so far “does not show his involvement in the murder or in luring the victim, thus specifying the nature of the role that the investigation revealed about him.”
Prior knowledge of Syrians
The data available so far indicate that the victim had prior knowledge of the two Syrian suspects. The judicial source stated, “When Al-Alwani called his family around ten o’clock on Thursday night, that is, shortly before his death, the two Syrians were with him in the apartment.” He said: “The data indicate a close acquaintance between Al-Alwani and them, as the recordings showed that he shook hands with them and hugged them warmly, which constitutes one of the elements that the investigation addresses to understand the nature of the relationship between them and the circumstances that preceded the crime.”
Delivery of the body
In terms of medical evidence, the judicial source confirmed that the investigation “has not yet decided whether the death resulted from hanging or suffocation by a tape attached to the curtain of the house, or by another method.” He explained that “the condition of the body when it was found, and the deformation and swelling that occurred, did not allow the cause of death to be determined conclusively, which requires completing the necessary medical examinations.”
After DNA tests determined that the body belonged to the murdered Alwani, the source pointed out that the body of the murdered would be subjected to x-rays, and its examination or autopsy would be completed as required by the medical need to determine the exact cause of death. Accordingly, its delivery will be delayed until the completion of these procedures, while revealing the motive behind the crime remains linked to what the investigations will reach, especially in the event of the arrest of the two Syrian suspects.
An activist leader in the Syrian province of Suwayda, which has a Druze majority, spoke of current attempts by what is known as the “National Guard” to “drag the province into a new, broad confrontation” with the government’s internal security forces, “under the guidance of an Israeli politician, a former member of the Knesset, and Syrian Druze politicians residing outside the country.” A monitoring source inside the city of Suwayda did not rule out the matter, pointing out that “they are pushing for this in the context of attempts to thwart the formation of an Israeli government led by Gadi Eisenkot.”
The activist leader opposing the policy of Sheikh Al-Aql, Hikmat Al-Hajri, and his National Guard, said in a call with Asharq Al-Awsat: “Currently, there are those who are trying to sow discord again and create confusion with the villages in which the (government) Internal Security Forces are deployed. After every calm that occurs and the possibility of starting a dialogue appears, there are those who seek to tense the situation again,” referring to a cautious calm that has been witnessed on the fronts in the governorate for about three weeks between members of the Internal Security Forces and the “Guards.” “National,” and Al-Hijri remained silent about any statement that might raise tensions.
The source said that the plan to restore tension to the governorate also includes “strikes at the sites where the National Guard is holding detainees, with the aim of covering up the prisoners who were handed over in exchange for sums of money.”
The source expressed his belief that the plan to reignite tension in the governorate has more than one purpose, including “influencing the positive role that Jordan is playing towards the new Syria and efforts to resolve the Suwayda crisis,” and causing “certain embarrassment” to the Israeli Prime Minister in charge of forming the government, Eisenkot.
In the source’s opinion, the “National Guard,” which controls large areas of the governorate, including the city of Suwayda, “has the capabilities to restore tension” with the government’s internal security forces, “especially since it is working non-stop to increase the tension among the people against the government, and this matter contributes to the success of its project.” He added: “When the battle begins, every civilian will be forced to carry weapons,” stressing the necessity of “missing the opportunity to increase the rift and ease tension until we reach a national solution.”
A source residing in the city of Suwayda, and following political and field developments related to the governorate file, did not rule out what was revealed by the leader of the armed faction. He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The tools of the Likud Party are pushing to drag the governorate into a confrontation with Syrian security, in order to find a justification for Israel to enter the line against the Syrian state under the pretext of protecting the Druze.”
The Governor of Suwayda, Mustafa Al-Bakour, had previously sent several invitations to the people of Suwayda for dialogue in order to resolve the governorate’s ongoing crisis since the bloody events of July 2025, but they were not responded to.
According to several sources in Suwayda, the reason for this is “the existing policy of oppression and treason in the areas under Al-Hijri influence, and the (National Guard), who refuse dialogue with the government, demand the right to self-determination, and sought, with the support of outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to secede the governorate from Syria and establish what is called (the state of Bashan)” there.
