US shields Syrian general accused of war crimes to extract intel on missing journalist

In the spring of 2025, the FBI and CIA sat down with Bassam al-Hassan in Lebanon to make him an offer. They would provide him residency, protection, and money to cover his living expenses. In return, he would tell them what he knew about Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared in Syria in 2012. Hassan agreed. What followed was an arrangement that has troubled the family of the missing reporter, angered officials in Syria's new government, and raised hard questions about what the United States is willing to do in pursuit of answers.

Hassan is no minor figure. He oversaw Syria's chemical weapons programme under Bashar al-Assad and served as a senior adviser to the regime. He is wanted for crimes against humanity. Yet after Assad's government collapsed in December 2024, Hassan fled first to Iran, then to Lebanon—where, according to a BBC and NPR investigation, he has been living under American protection ever since. The arrangement involves not just the FBI but also the CIA and Lebanese security authorities. Money flows to Hassan through intermediaries, making the payments harder to trace. He is a sanctioned individual by the US government, yet he is being bankrolled by it.

The justification is Tice. The journalist was abducted in Syria in 2012, and Hassan was in the chain of command. He has told US investigators that Tice was executed on Assad's orders. He has even provided a location where he said Tice's remains might be found. But when that site was excavated, nothing was discovered. Multiple sources familiar with the search say US authorities stopped digging before the work was complete, possibly due to security concerns. Hassan's credibility, in other words, is uncertain. Yet the payments and protection continue.

The arrangement has created a moral and practical crisis. Phil Elwood, speaking for the Tice family, called it offensive that American tax dollars were furnishing a comfortable life for someone linked to chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians—someone who claims to have had their relative executed. "This is nothing less than aiding and abetting the escape of a wanted war criminal," Elwood said. Officials from two branches of Syria's new government have told the BBC they want Hassan returned to face trial. The US authorities, they say, want him kept in Lebanon. There is little Damascus can do about it.

Hassan is not alone. Other Syrian regime officials connected to the Tice case have also found refuge abroad, apparently with American assistance. Mohammad Makhlouf, who reported to Hassan and was involved in Tice's detention, is believed to be in Lebanon. Sakr Rustom, Hassan's nephew and a participant in Tice's abduction, moves between the UAE and Lebanon. Ghassan Nassour, a former general said to have overseen the jail where Tice was held, is living in the UAE with his family. One former regime member told the BBC he had received money from the FBI multiple times in exchange for cooperation on the Tice case. He acknowledged, with apparent candor, that it was not in his interest to share all his information at once—better to stretch out the payments as long as possible.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation say there has been little evidence that Hassan's cooperation has significantly advanced the search for Tice. The arrangement is believed to be expensive and open-ended. Some worry it could continue indefinitely, consuming resources and yielding diminishing returns. The FBI declined to comment when asked about the arrangement, directing instead to a past statement saying its focus remained on establishing facts around the Tice case and securing Tice's return. The CIA and Lebanon's security directorate did not respond to requests for comment.

What emerges from the reporting is a collision between two imperatives: the desire to find answers about a missing American, and the principle that those accused of war crimes should face justice. The US has chosen to prioritize the first over the second. Whether that choice will yield the answers the Tice family seeks remains unclear. What is clear is that the cost—financial, moral, and in terms of the message it sends to Syria's new government about accountability—continues to accumulate.