Suspicion of passports issued to Assad's relatives! Operations suspended

The Syrian Embassy in Beirut has suspended consular operations due to suspicions that fake passports were issued to relatives of Bashar al-Assad.

A statement regarding the matter was issued by the Syrian Embassy in Beirut.

The statement included the following:

"The Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in Beirut announces, upon the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that consular work at the embassy has been suspended until further notice."

No information was provided regarding the reason for the suspension of consular services.

On the other hand, Lebanese security sources speaking to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity said that the Syrian Embassy suspended consular operations due to the issuance of fake passports to the wife and daughter of one of Bashar al-Assad's cousins.

Reports in the Lebanese press alleged that Huzeym, the wife of Dureyd Assad—the son of Assad's uncle Rifaat Assad—and their daughter Shams had entered Lebanon secretly because their passports had expired, and that they had paid large sums of money to have the validity sections of their passports forged at the embassy in order to quickly travel to Egypt.