BEIRUT: A former Syrian Arab Republic diplomat who defected from his service under the administration of toppled president Bashar Assad was shot dead alongside his brother in the country’s south, a war monitor said on Wednesday.
Armed men on Tuesday night entered the home of former diplomat, Noureddine Al-Labbad, in the town of Al-Sanamayn, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Damascus, opening fire on him and his brother before fleeing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based monitor said Labbad had returned to Syria two weeks earlier from France, where he had represented the opposition’s Syrian National Coalition after having served as a diplomat under Assad.
He had defected from the foreign ministry service in 2013.
Security forces declared a curfew in the town after cars were set alight and grenades were set off following the attack, an AFP journalist said.
But by the morning it had been lifted with traffic gradually resuming.
Videos shared on Telegram by Syrian security forces show gunmen entering what was described as Labbad’s home.
No further details were available regarding the killing of the former diplomat, but there have been frequent incidents involving tribal violence or acts of revenge in the past months, particularly since Assad’s ouster in December.
Dissident former diplomat shot dead in southern Syria: monitor
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Dissident former diplomat shot dead in southern Syria: monitor
- Armed men on Tuesday night entered the home of former diplomat, Noureddine Al-Labbad, in the town of Al-Sanamayn, opening fire on him and his brother
- The Britain-based monitor said Labbad had returned to Syria two weeks earlier from France
Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei
- The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus
- Minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s next supreme leader.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.
On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.
He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice for him.
