Lebanese Freed After 33 Years in Syrian Prisons

A Lebanese man who had spent 33 years in Syrian prisons arrived in his hometown of Chekka on Monday, following his release by Islamist-led rebels.

Salim Hamawi became the first Lebanese prisoner to return to Lebanon, although another man, Ali al-Ali, was filmed after being freed from a prison in Hama last week. Ali had been missing for almost 40 years during Lebanon’s civil war. His family had no contact with him, and a Syrian journalist in Hama reported that Ali had lost all memory and could not recognize his own identity.

Hamawi, speaking upon his return to Lebanon, explained that he had been arrested for his affiliation with the Christian Lebanese Forces party. He shared that he had lost all hope of ever returning home.

Following the release of Ali al-Ali’s video online on Thursday, many Lebanese families began calling for answers about the fate of their relatives who are believed to be detained in Syrian prisons. During Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, approximately 17,000 people went missing, many of whom were either imprisoned or killed in detention centers run by Syrian forces in Lebanon and Syria. The whereabouts of many of these individuals remain uncertain.