Lebanon asks Syria to hand over two suspects in killing of former Iraqi MP

Lebanese authorities have asked Syria to arrest and hand over two Syrian suspects in the murder of former Iraqi MP Ahmed al-Alwani, who was found strangled to death in a Beirut apartment on Monday evening. A Lebanese judicial source said security forces identified the two suspects who fled to Syria, and requested their arrest and extradition for investigation, noting that the motive for the crime has not yet been revealed. Preliminary investigations indicated the involvement of three people, including a Lebanese national who was previously arrested. Al-Alwani arrived in Beirut on November 5, according to his media office, and his last call with his team was after arriving at the apartment from the airport. A Lebanese judicial source said Tuesday that al-Alwani was subjected to a carefully planned entrapment, and that the perpetrators rented an apartment for him in the Tarik al-Jadida area and brought him there from the airport, where he was killed. Al-Alwani was sentenced to death in Iraq in 2014 for killing two soldiers, but was released last year under a general amnesty law.