Lebanon seeks Syrian cooperation in probe of Iraqi MP Ahmed Al-Alwani's killing

Lebanese authorities have requested Syrian cooperation in the investigation into the killing of former Iraqi parliamentarian Ahmed Al-Alwani, whose body was found in an apartment in the Tariq Al-Jadideh district of Beirut, according to a source cited by Al Arabiya.

The source said the request followed the identification of two Syrian nationals suspected of involvement in the crime, who fled to Syria. Lebanese authorities have detained a Lebanese suspect in connection with the case, according to a judicial source quoted by Agence France-Presse.

Initial investigations indicate that three people were involved in the crime: one Lebanese national, who has been arrested, and two Syrians who left Lebanon for Syria.

The source added that Al-Alwani was strangled, and that the suspects lured him to an apartment they had rented in Beirut, taking him there upon his arrival in Lebanon. The motive for the crime remains unclear.

Ahmed Al-Alwani arrived in Beirut from Erbil on November 5, before his body was discovered in the apartment.

Al-Alwani was a prominent political figure in Iraq's Anbar province, serving as a member of parliament and gaining prominence during the 2012 and 2013 protests against then-Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's government, of which he was a vocal critic.

He was arrested in December 2013 and sentenced to death in 2014 for the killing of two soldiers, before being released in April 2025 under a general amnesty law, after spending more than 10 years in prison.

Investigations are ongoing to determine the motive behind Al-Alwani's killing and the roles of the suspects, amid security and judicial coordination between Beirut and Baghdad. The request for Syrian cooperation opens a new avenue for pursuing the two suspects believed to be in Syria.