On Thursday, Israel announced the start of handing over to Lebanon five civilian prisoners arrested by its forces in southern Lebanon. The process began with the handover of citizen Malik Kamal Ghazi (20 years old), in a move that comes in anticipation of setting a new date for the Lebanese-Israeli round of negotiations in Rome, and after a meeting between US Ambassador Michel Issa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in light of efforts to keep the negotiating track in place, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed that Israel is still violating the “framework agreement” and that the Lebanese army He does his duty completely.
Netanyahu: They are not members of a terrorist organization
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel decided to release five Lebanese civilians after interrogation, explaining in a statement that “after completing their interrogation, it turned out that they are civilians who are not members of any terrorist organization, and did not participate in terrorist acts, and there is no reason to continue detaining them in Israel,” while sources familiar with the process told Asharq Al-Awsat that the other four will be handed over on Friday morning.
Netanyahu's statement added, "The decision came within the framework of negotiations with Lebanon to recover the remains of leaders of the Jewish community who were kidnapped and killed there in the mid-eighties of the last century." Pointing out that Israel and Lebanon have made efforts in the past few months to locate the remains, which included operations on the ground.
Information had previously indicated American efforts to pressure Israel to take a positive step in the prisoners’ file before setting a date for a new round of negotiations in Rome, which was supposed to be held last Tuesday, especially since the issue of detainees and missing persons was one of the basic files discussed in the last round, where preliminary regulations were exchanged between the two parties.
According to Lebanese data, Malek Ghazi, 20 years old, lost contact with him in October 2025 while he was in the town of Ain Atta in the Rashaya District to practice walking. Ministerial sources confirmed that Ghazi does not belong to Hezbollah, and that Israel had not previously informed the Lebanese state of information about him.
The Lebanese Army received Ghazi, at noon, from the Red Cross after Israel handed him over at the Naqoura crossing. He was transferred to the Army Intelligence Office in the Benoit Barakat Barracks in Tyre, to undergo medical examinations.
Salam: A step towards processing the file
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stressed that “the safe return of any liberated Lebanese to his homeland constitutes an important step on the way to addressing this issue,” thanking “the American administration, especially Ambassador Michel Issa, for the efforts made in this area.”
Salam stressed, “We will continue working until all our prisoners are released, the fate of the missing is revealed, and complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory is achieved,” adding: “No matter how difficult the negotiating path may seem, we will continue to mobilize all required efforts, to preserve the rights of Lebanon and the interests of the Lebanese, especially our people in the south, and to secure their safe and dignified return to their land and villages, and to restore the state’s full sovereignty over its lands.”
Informed sources: American pressure to keep the negotiations on track
Sources familiar with the process told Asharq Al-Awsat that the release of the prisoners came as a result of American pressure, especially after the meeting of the American Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where there was an urge to take any positive step before the next date of negotiations.
The sources say that “everything stipulated in the agreement has stopped,” especially with regard to the model areas, and therefore the pressure was towards taking any step in the issue of prisoners and the land borders, which are the two topics that were discussed during the last negotiating session.
She adds that Lebanon had submitted a list of the names of the 32 prisoners, both civilians and Hezbollah members, demanding that the Red Cross meet with them, which Israel refused, noting that “the Americans at least put pressure on them to keep the process of negotiations going,” and that Lebanon was not informed in advance of the details of the current operation or the names of the five prisoners.
During the recent Rome round, the Lebanese delegation stressed the necessity of distinguishing between civilian prisoners and Hezbollah members, while the Israeli delegation presented a list in which it demanded the receipt of the remains of 12 Jewish people killed in Lebanon during the civil war, which is difficult to achieve on the Lebanese side due to the lack of information about them.
While Israeli media reported on an effort by Lebanon to search for the 12 missing persons, noting that it had handed over maps and pictures of cemeteries and sites that might contain evidence or remains, the sources said that “the Lebanese delegation handed the Israeli delegation during the last round of negotiations pictures of Jewish cemeteries in Lebanon, but without specifying the remains of the people wanted by Israel.”
President Joseph Aoun had raised the issue of prisoners during his visit to the United States, where he met with the head of the International Red Cross and asked him about this file. He informed him that there were Lebanese prisoners held by Israel, but Israel was preventing the committee from reaching them, according to what the ministerial sources said.
Aoun: Israel continues to violate the framework agreement
In parallel with the Israeli step in the prisoner file, President Joseph Aoun stressed that Israel is still violating the framework agreement reached in the Lebanese-American-Israeli negotiations in Washington.
Aoun's words came during his meeting with Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, who also met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. He discussed the path of return, recovery and reconstruction in the south, and the government's efforts to reform and strengthen state institutions and capabilities.
Aoun said, “Israel continues to violate the framework agreement reached in the Lebanese-American-Israeli negotiations in Washington by continuing the bombing and destruction of the southern villages it occupies and bulldozing homes and property,” pointing out that “the army is fully performing its duty in the model areas to which it has redeployed, and that everything that is said otherwise aims to insult the army and cast doubt on its role and commitment to the decisions of the political authority.”
He stressed that “the reconstruction of the south is the responsibility of the Lebanese state, but this cannot be done in light of the continued Israeli occupation,” welcoming any “international assistance in this field, especially since several countries agreed to hold an international conference to provide the necessary support for this.”
The investigations department into the Syrian-Lebanese network, which was dismantled by the Lebanese security services, has expanded over the past few days, with the emergence of new data about the nature of its activity, its sources of funding, and the entities suspected of providing training and protection to its members. While the investigations are still in their preliminary stages, security interest is focused on a question that goes beyond the group’s activity inside Syria: Was it preparing to carry out security operations on Lebanese territory as well?
A judicial source revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that, according to him, preliminary investigations strengthened evidence about the involvement of Hezbollah members in training members of the network and providing protection for them, in addition to their receiving funding from an association linked to the party, based in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
According to the source, the security services seized invoices belonging to the aforementioned association in the possession of the detained Syrians. Investigations showed that she was providing them with periodic financial assistance, the value of which ranged between $200 and $500 per month. He pointed out that the same association had been paying rent to Syrian officer Manaf Ali Safi and two of his companions in the southern suburb, since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and their flight to Lebanon.
Investigations showed, based on preliminary information, that following the renewal of the war in Syria, on March 2, 2026, they moved from the southern suburb to the town of Tal Beri in Akkar, before later returning to the suburb, and from there to the Bekaa region, where they were suspected of having undergone military training.
The judicial source says that people suspected of being linked to Hezbollah were using phones with Nepali numbers to communicate via the WhatsApp application, and that tracking communications showed that their source was, in most cases, from the southern suburbs, and sometimes from the Bekaa region. Tracking the geographical locations of Syrians’ phones also showed their frequent presence in the suburbs and the Bekaa, in addition to the town of Tal Beri in Akkar Governorate.
In parallel with the investigations, the security services began conducting an inventory of the seized items found with the detainees, which, according to the source, include machine guns, snipers, detonators, and explosive materials. The agencies are also investigating the testimony of a member of the State Security Service who was recently arrested, during which he said that he had transported explosive devices from a house in the town of Tal Beri, before disposing of them by throwing them into the Great River in northern Lebanon. The competent authorities are working to verify this statement and attempt to find and seize the explosives.
In parallel, the possibility of coordination with the Syrian authorities remains. The judicial source explains that after completing the preliminary investigations, and in the event that the names of people inside Syria who are suspected of being linked to the network are identified, the information will be transferred to the Syrian side. To take appropriate action.
But the most sensitive aspect of the investigation, according to the sources, relates to determining the actual scope of the group’s work, and whether its activity was limited to preparing for operations inside Syria, or was it also working on security objectives in Lebanon. The source adds that “the data available so far indicate that Lebanon was among the arena of operations targeted by the group,” while investigations are continuing to reveal the nature of the potential targets, and whether they have moved from the planning stage to operational preparation.
It does not seem that dismantling the network will close the security file, as the source expects that the Lebanese agencies will intensify monitoring and proactive security operations to track down members and former officers of the Assad regime present in Lebanon, and verify the nature of their activities and communications. The source considers that the seriousness of the data revealed by the investigation is that it raises the possibility that the presence of some of these people in Lebanon is not limited to fleeing Syria or seeking refuge for fear of persecution, but rather that some of them have security roles and goals.
The agencies are dealing with the suspended network as an entry point to a broader investigation, under a verified security hypothesis that the group that was exposed may not be the only one, and that other networks linked to the remnants of the former regime may still be active on Lebanese territory.
The developments witnessed in Al-Hasakah, Syria, in the past two days, a week after the dissolution of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), indicate that a new phase is taking shape in the governorate, the title of which is the presence of the state in all fields, enhancing security and stability, unifying institutions, and ending administrative duplication. This is in implementation of the “January 29, 2026 Agreement.”
The Deputy Governor of Al-Hasakah, Ahmed Al-Hilali, considered the dissolution of the SDF an important step to accelerate the merger process, and not an announcement to end it, stressing that the process is ongoing and may take more time as it is linked to administrative procedures and data auditing.
Some expressed their satisfaction with these developments, which began with the entry of the Internal Security Forces into the city of Al-Hasakah on September 1. This reassured the people of all components that the state is for everyone, and they saw the conditions as “much better than before,” while others saw that it was too early to judge the ongoing change given that it was still in its infancy, and they described the governorate as “afflicted” due to its lack of basic services.
Al-Hilali: The process is continuing
Al-Hilali, in an interview with the “Syrian News” channel on Wednesday-Thursday night, talked about the most prominent changes that took place after the announcement of the dissolution of the “SDF” on August 25 of last year. He confirmed that the “SDF” military forces had passed the advanced stages of the integration process and had become fully within the arrangements of the Ministry of Defense, while the number of names nominated by the “SDF” to join the security forces exceeded 9 thousand names, pointing out that the internal security in Al-Hasakah was supplied with members from the region and members of the The “Asayish” (the internal security forces affiliated with the “SDF”) integrated, pointing to the preparation of the Internal Security Directorate in the city of Qamishli. In preparation for its opening in the coming days.
Al-Hilali confirmed that the security forces entered Al-Hasakah smoothly without obstacles or security problems, and that the influence of previous media propaganda towards the security and the Syrian army faded in the face of the welcome of the people, as the security situation is currently being controlled after a period of security chaos.
He pointed to the preparations to assign judges who previously worked for the former “Self-Administration” to tasks in the Ministry of Justice, stressing that the families welcomed the return of their children and the deployment of the security forces, and they felt complete freedom to express their joy.
Regarding the crossings with neighboring countries, the Deputy Governor of Al-Hasakah stated that the “Semalka” crossing with the Iraqi Kurdistan region operates completely under state administration, and witnesses a large commercial movement of travelers, while the “Al-Yarubiyah” crossing operates with the Iraqi side and is linked to the M4 road and witnesses large transit traffic, while the “Nusaybin” crossing will be strategic for Turkish transit movement towards Iraq and the Arab Gulf states, pointing to the improvement of water conditions in Al-Hasakah, and it has become within the acceptable range after treatment. Basic problems.
In the details of the mine file, Al-Hilali revealed that the completion rate of operations to remove mines and war remnants in Al-Hasakah exceeded 40 percent, and that the governorate is seeking to obtain privacy in the oil file in proportion to its needs, pointing out that wheat production in Al-Hasakah exceeded one million and 650 thousand tons during the previous seasons.
Relief
Last July witnessed an alert by citizens in Al-Hasakah that lasted for several days, during which they demanded the fulfillment of their demands, for the state to extend its control and influence over the entire governorate, the return of the displaced to their cities and villages, and an end to the SDF’s control over the region and its violations against the people.
Director of the Syrian Association for Refugee Rights, Sheikh Mudar Hammad Al-Asaad, a resident of Al-Hasakah, expressed his satisfaction with the changes taking place in Al-Hasakah after the dissolution of the SDF. He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The entry of the Internal Security Forces into Al-Hasakah reassured the people, whether Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, or Assyrians, that the state is for everyone, after the SDF and its affiliated organizations were unique in making security and military decisions, and assassinations, killings, arrests, and kidnappings were taking place...”
Al-Asaad added: “Currently, the situation is much better than before, although the so-called Revolutionary Youth affiliated with the dissolved SDF, the remnants of the SDF who refuse to integrate, and some remnants of the previous regime have merged with each other and are working to spread chaos, but to a lesser extent than before.”
Before the announcement of the dissolution of the SDF, most of the cities and regions in Al-Hasakah were witnessing cases of security chaos carried out by the “Revolutionary Youth,” which intensified after the signing of the “January 29, 2026 Agreement,” as its members prevented the institutions from being handed over to the government, but this scene has now disappeared.
Al-Asaad explained that the entry of the Internal Security Forces frightened them because after the dissolution of the SDF and the appointment of its leader, Mazloum Abdi, as an advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, anyone who does not abide by this decision has become an outlaw, and the state has the ability to enforce the law against them, and therefore they will be arrested and brought to the courts to be held accountable.
The demands of the people currently, according to Al-Asaad, are focused on improving living conditions, especially in light of the state of poverty that is increasing on a daily basis and its rate rising, and providing basic services, such as electricity, water, fuel, bread, improving roads, repairing schools, and creating job opportunities, especially in the oil and gas fields, in addition to activating all official and governmental departments in order to overcome the difficulties facing the people.
Al-Asaad also stressed that the integration of the SDF and the Autonomous Administration into the structures of the Syrian government is not enough; There must be community integration, explaining that “the people cannot acknowledge the integration except after the release of their children from the secret (SDF) prisons, who are thousands, and also the return of refugees and displaced persons, whose number reaches more than 300 thousand refugees and displaced people from Al-Hasakah.”
Slow down
On the other hand, there are residents of the city of Al-Hasakah who have a different opinion, and believe that it is too early to judge the ongoing change given that it is still in its infancy.
An employee at a government institution, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Nothing has become clear yet, and manifestations of the state’s control and presence have not yet appeared. Many government institutions are still under their control, and there are government departments that have stopped working, while the (SDF) courts are working.”
The employee complained about the lack of basic services in the city, and said: “The government arrived but the services did not arrive. Electricity is non-existent and water arrives once every ten days. Only about 10 percent of the population benefits from it due to weak pumping, and with the power outage, the vast majority were deprived of water,” describing the city of Al-Hasakah as “the disaster-stricken city.”
The employee spoke about the widespread theft crime during the daytime in the city, especially of motorcycles and women's bags.
