Syrian General Accused of War Crimes Was Mossad Agent, Prosecutors Say

The story of former Syrian general Khaled al-Halabi has turned into a continental-scale political thriller. Austria has officially charged him with war crimes and torture, but the real scandal began after investigators announced that for years the Syrian general had been under the protection of Israel's "Mossad" and enjoyed the patronage of several European special services.

Khaled al-Halabi, 62, who headed the 335th branch of the Syrian State Security Service in the city of Raqqa, is accused of involvement in the torture of at least 21 people during the suppression of the "Arab Spring" protests in 2011-2013. The department he led was known for its brutal methods: prisons where people disappeared without a trace, extrajudicial executions, and interrogations that turned into the most severe torture.

But that is only part of the story. The real sensation is that, according to the Austrian prosecutor's office, the general was not just a refugee, but a secret agent of Israel's foreign intelligence, "Mossad," operating in Europe. The investigation claims that in 2015, it was Israeli officers who ensured al-Halabi's secret transfer from France to Austria, when French authorities began to massively check asylum seekers for participation in the crimes of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

According to the prosecutors, "Mossad" agents accompanied him to the border, and Austrian intelligence officers, some of whom acted on their own initiative, helped the Syrian general obtain asylum, process documents, and hide in a private apartment in Vienna, which was again rented with "Mossad" funds.

Years later, partly due to al-Halabi's own carelessness, investigators managed to get on the general's trail. He had posted a photo on social media on one of the bridges in Budapest. The photo taken by al-Halabi became the key that allowed them to match travel routes and resume the search for the fugitive general. In fact, an old and experienced agent who had successfully bypassed the special services of several countries was exposed because of just one photo.