Planned in Iraq, carried out in Beirut? The mystery surrounding al-Alwani’s killing

Report by Maroun Nassif, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

The Information Branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces is continuing its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing of former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmad al-Alwani in Beirut’s Tariq el-Jdideh neighborhood.

As of the publication of this report, investigators had yet to establish the motive behind the killing. However, two possible motives have largely been ruled out: robbery, as the money al-Alwani had with him was found inside the apartment, and personal disputes, including those related to sexual matters.

Sources familiar with the investigation say the killing may have been part of an organized political and security operation planned in Iraq and carried out in Beirut.

Information obtained by LBCI appears to support this theory. The two individuals captured on surveillance cameras entering the rented apartment where al-Alwani was killed reportedly arrived in Lebanon on Nov. 5, the day of the killing, and left the country the same day through a land border crossing rather than Beirut’s airport.

The entire operation reportedly lasted no more than five hours, from al-Alwani’s arrival at the airport and transfer to a hotel in Beirut’s Raoucheh area to his departure for the apartment in Tariq el-Jdideh, his killing, and the two unidentified individuals’ departure from Lebanon.

Iraq’s Security Media Cell chief, Lt. Gen. Saad Maan, said hotel employees in Raoucheh had asked al-Alwani why he was leaving less than an hour after arriving. He reportedly told them that friends had come to meet him and that he was leaving with them.

Al-Alwani then left with them in a white Range Rover and headed to the apartment in Tariq el-Jdideh, where he made his final phone call to his family.

Information remains conflicting regarding the two individuals’ nationalities, with some accounts suggesting they were Syrian and others indicating they were Iraqi.

The Lebanese taxi driver detained by the Information Branch, who is not believed to have been involved in the killing, said the two individuals who accompanied Al-Alwani spoke with a Syrian accent. 

Employees at the Raoucheh hotel reportedly gave the same account. 

However, a security-related theory does not rule out the possibility that the two men were Iraqi.

The killing of al-Alwani remains shrouded in unanswered questions that ongoing judicial cooperation between Lebanon, Syria and Iraq is expected to help resolve. The cooperation began following the discovery of his body.

Among the main questions investigators are seeking to answer are why al-Alwani came to Lebanon and why neither Lebanese security agencies nor any Lebanese officials were informed of his arrival.

These questions are particularly significant given that al-Alwani was a former Iraqi lawmaker who spent more than 10 years in prison in Iraq because of his hardline religious positions.