Syrian general accused of atrocities is protected by U.S. and Lebanon, NPR and BBC find

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 with the CIA and Lebanon's security agency, the General Directorate of General Security, did not respond. The FBI declined to comment and instead pointed to a past statement that said its focus remained on establishing the facts around the Tice case and securing his return.

In response to our findings, Phil Elwood, spokesperson for the Tice family, said:

"If what you are saying is true, the fact that our tax dollars are being used to furnish a comfortable life for someone associated with the use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians, who claims to have had Austin Tice executed, is offensive. This is nothing less than aiding and abetting the escape of a wanted war criminal. The Syrians deserve justice, and he should be returned to stand trial."

Hassan is under sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department for his role in the Assad government, where, in addition to running the chemical weapons program, he served as a top adviser to the president.

Last month NPR and the BBC reported Tice's abduction had been a planned operation, with Hassan in the chain of command. Since his disappearance, Tice has been the subject of one of the American government's most high-profile missing persons cases, with presidents Biden and Trump both discussing it publicly and sending teams to the Middle East to negotiate with Syrian officials.

Hassan is not the only Syrian regime official connected to the Tice case who claims to receive financial payments or assistance for living abroad. Two others spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they feared for their safety if they spoke publicly.

One former regime member said he had received money from the FBI multiple times in exchange for his cooperation on Tice's case. It was "not in my interest to share all the information all at once," he told the BBC and NPR, "in order to be able to drag out how long I can continue to receive payments from them."

Another former regime member connected to Tice's case, who spoke by phone with the BBC, claimed he was living in Lebanon under the "patronage" of U.S. authorities, citing this as the reason he could not speak about Tice.

The BBC spoke to a former senior Lebanese intelligence official on condition of anonymity, because he is not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters of this nature and due to the sensitivity of the Tice case. He confirmed that Lebanese intelligence does have arrangements with the Americans and that payments have and do take place when both agencies have overlap in cases, but he said he had no knowledge of payments involving the Austin Tice case.

Following the fall of the Assad regime in early December 2024, Hassan initially escaped to Iran. A Syrian businessman, with strong connections to both the former regime and the Lebanese authorities, told the BBC that negotiations had then taken place to bring Hassan to Lebanon.

The businessman, who asked to remain anonymous to speak candidly, said Hassan was valuable, not only because of what he is believed to know about Austin Tice, but because of his knowledge of Syria's chemical weapons program and its military relationship with Iran.

Austin Tice's mother, Debra, told the BBC that an official with the FBI had informed her Hassan was in Beirut, and that they had spoken to him. In May 2025, she flew to Lebanon to attempt to meet Hassan but was unsuccessful.

At the time, she told NPR and the BBC: "I don't want to interrogate him. I don't want to berate him, I don't want to scold him. That's not my job. I want to know about my son."

Hassan told U.S. investigators last year that Tice had been executed on former President Assad's orders, the BBC reported, but several people with knowledge of the investigation have questioned the details of his account. Hassan has provided a potential location for Tice's remains. But according to multiple sources with knowledge of the case, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it, the site was searched and nothing was found — casting doubt on the validity of some of Hassan's information.

There are questions, however, about how thoroughly the site was searched. Two sources who said they had intimate knowledge of the operation told the BBC that U.S. authorities stopped digging before the search had been completed, possibly because of security concerns.

Other Syrian officials connected to the Tice case have also apparently found refuge abroad.

Mohammad Makhlouf, a senior officer at the facility where Tice was detained and who took part in a staged abduction video of Tice, is residing in Lebanon. Sakr Rustom, who is connected to Austin Tice's abduction and is the nephew of Bassam al Hassan, was contacted by the BBC in the United Arab Emirates. When asked about Tice's case, Rustom said he "preferred to focus on matters of the future."