US and Lebanon shield former Syrian general wanted over Assad-era atrocities, BBC investigation reveals

A former Syrian general who once oversaw the chemical weapons programme of Bashar al-Assad's government is being protected and financially supported in Lebanon by authorities in the United States and Lebanon, according to a joint investigation by BBC News and the US broadcaster NPR. Bassam al-Hassan, a onetime senior adviser to the deposed Syrian president, is wanted for crimes against humanity committed during the Assad regime, yet is said to be living under an arrangement that offers him residency, security and a steady source of income.

The investigation, published as part of a long-running BBC podcast series titled "Where is Austin Tice?", reports that the deal was reached after the collapse of the Assad regime in late 2024, and is believed to have been struck in the spring of 2025. At its heart is Hassan's willingness to share intelligence about the abduction of American journalist Austin Tice, who was seized in Syria in 2012 and has never been found, along with additional information deemed valuable to US agencies.

According to the BBC, the arrangement involves the FBI alongside other American and Lebanese authorities. The corporation says it has reviewed a detailed record of a meeting at which Hassan, FBI and CIA representatives, and Lebanese security officials were present to discuss Tice's case. In that meeting, Hassan was offered "residency", "protection" and assistance with his "living needs" in exchange for information, primarily relating to the missing journalist. Sources familiar with the terms told the BBC that payments reach Hassan from US authorities through an intermediary, a method that makes the money harder to trace. Hassan is himself sanctioned by the US government.

The findings carry particular weight because of Hassan's alleged role in one of the most sensitive unresolved cases in American journalism. Last month, the BBC reported that Tice's abduction had been a planned operation, with Hassan sitting in the chain of command that carried it out. That revelation complicated the picture considerably: the man now supposedly being cultivated as a source is also accused of meaningful involvement in the disappearance of the very American he is being paid to help explain.

Syria's new government, formed after Assad fled and his regime disintegrated in December 2024, is not content with the arrangement. Officials from two separate branches of the new authorities told the BBC that they want Hassan returned to Syria to face trial. They also acknowledged, however, that the United States wants him to remain in Lebanon, and that Damascus has little practical ability to challenge that preference — a striking illustration of how leverage, rather than law, continues to determine who is held to account in the aftermath of the Syrian conflict.

The BBC put its findings to the FBI, the CIA and Lebanon's General Directorate of General Security. Only the FBI responded, declining to comment on the specifics and instead referring the BBC to a previous statement asserting that its focus remained on establishing the facts surrounding Tice's case and securing his return home. Neither the CIA nor the Lebanese security service offered a public response.

The Tice family, confronted with the BBC's account, expressed dismay. Phil Elwood, a spokesperson for the family, said that if the reporting proved accurate, it would be offensive that US taxpayers were effectively funding "a comfortable life" for a man linked to the use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians and accused of having claimed that Austin Tice was executed. Elwood described the situation as "nothing less than aiding and abetting the escape of a wanted war criminal" and argued that Hassan should be returned to stand trial.

Scepticism about the value of the arrangement appears to extend beyond the Tice family. People connected to the investigation told the BBC they have seen little evidence that it has significantly advanced since Hassan began supplying information under the agreement. Sources with knowledge of the case expressed concern that the deal could continue indefinitely, at considerable expense to the US government but with limited intelligence gain — a warning that echoes long-running debates about the costs and benefits of cultivating sources with a direct interest in drawing out negotiations.

Hassan is reportedly not the only former regime figure to have benefited from a connection to the Tice case. One ex-member of the Assad government said he had received money from the FBI on multiple occasions in return for cooperating on the investigation, and observed that it was "not in his interest to share all the information all at once" so as to prolong the flow of payments. Another former regime figure said he was living in Lebanon under US "patronage", which he offered as the reason he could not discuss Tice with the BBC.

A former senior Lebanese intelligence official confirmed to the BBC that arrangements between Lebanese intelligence and the Americans do exist, and that payments of this kind have occurred and continue to occur where the two agencies have overlapping cases. The official said, however, that he had no knowledge of any payments connected specifically to the Tice investigation. Lebanon's position is delicate: hosting a sanctioned figure wanted for crimes against humanity sits uneasily with its obligations, yet its security services have long cooperated closely with Washington.

The circumstances of Hassan's departure from Syria also raise questions. Following the fall of the Assad regime, he is believed to have fled first to Iran. A Syrian businessman with strong connections to both the former regime and the Lebanese authorities told the BBC that negotiations then took place involving the United States, Lebanon and Iran to relocate Hassan to Lebanon. The businessman, who asked not to be named, said Hassan's value lay not only in what he is believed to know about Tice but in his broader knowledge of the Assad government's inner workings.

For Syrians who endured years of chemical attacks and mass atrocities, the prospect that a senior figure from the old order might be shielded abroad — rather than tried at home — risks deepening a sense that justice is contingent on geopolitical usefulness. For the Tice family, the central question remains simpler and more painful: after more than a decade, is any of this bringing them closer to knowing what happened to Austin?