Pages on social media, among them the page Nabd Syria, circulated a report claiming that the arrest of a network linked to a former Syrian officer in Lebanon was limited to an ordinary residency violation, denying what had previously been announced about the case.
The fact-checking team reviewed open sources and established media reports, and found the claim to be misleading. Al Hadath reported on 2 September 2026, citing a Lebanese security source, that the Information Branch had arrested five people, among them Manaf Ali Safi, a former colonel in the regime's intelligence, over activity linked to the smuggling of fighters from Syria, with weapons, grenades and explosives seized in their possession.
The fact-checking team had already covered the details of the case and its context in an earlier fact-check published on 2 September 2026, which confirms that limiting the arrest to a residency violation does not reflect the available information about the case.
Why is this claim misleading?
A change of context: The claim rested on a real arrest that took place in Lebanon, but replaced its security background with a simple administrative reason relating to residency procedures, attributing that to a Lebanese security source, in order to empty the case of its substance and suggest that what was published about it has no basis.
